“Think”. One word. No fancy strategy deck. Just a sign. And that sign transformed a dying company into IBM.

Sometimes, clarity isn’t just a value—it’s the entire difference between growth and confusion, trust and resentment, momentum and stall-out.

And most businesses don’t lose because they’re lazy. They lose because expectations are fuzzy, assumptions are silent, and no one wants to ask the awkward questions.

Before returning to the IBM story. Consider this:

Misalignment Kills More Deals Than Mistakes

Most relationships don’t break because of bad intent. They break because of mismanaged expectations.

• The client expected more strategy.
• The team expected faster feedback.
• The vendor expected more flexibility.
• You expected results—and got silence.
• The partner expected reciprocal respect and communication.

And no one said anything. Because everyone assumed. And assumption is the birthplace of resentment.

“Almost all conflict is a result of violated expectations.” – Steven Covey – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The One Word Sign That Built IBM

In 1911, a young sales executive named Thomas J. Watson Sr. was sitting in a sales meeting at NCR (National Cash Register). The room was flat. Ideas were weak. The team was disengaged.

Watson stood up, grabbed a piece of chalk, and wrote one word on the board:

THINK.

Then he said,

“The trouble with every one of us is that we don’t think enough. We don’t get paid for working with our feet—we get paid for working with our heads.”

That moment stuck. He turned the word THINK into a slogan. Not a tagline. Not marketing fluff. A loaded and meaningful cultural expectation.

When Watson became CEO of what would become IBM, he brought the word with him—literally. He put “THINK” on signs, in offices, and across manufacturing floors.

But here’s the real brilliance: He didn’t define exactly what “THINK” meant.

He wanted the team to wrestle with it. To own it. To think about how they communicated. To think about their decisions. To think about how their work affected customers—not just their own department.

It became a company-wide expectation so simple and strong that it scaled across 300,000+ people.

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3 Ways to Set & Align Expectations in the Real World

1. Define Success at the Start—Visually, Verbally, and in Writing

Don’t just define what you’ll do—define what success looks like.

Ask:

• “What would make this feel like a win for you?”
• “How will we know if this is working?”

Write it down. Make it part of onboarding. Refer to it weekly.

2. Turn Process into Rhythm

Most team breakdowns happen between handoffs.

Clarify:

• How often will we meet?
• What format should updates take?
• What should you expect if things go off track?

Set the expectation for communication cadence as much as deliverables.

3. Revisit Expectations Before They Expire

Every new phase creates new assumptions. Every milestone is a new opportunity to ask:

• “Are we still aligned?”
• “Is anything unclear?”
• “Have our priorities changed?”

If you don’t reset expectations, you risk drifting into resentment—even when the work is good. At Expio, we do this at least monthly with our clients.

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Your Challenge → Pick One Relationship & Re-clarify

This week, find one relationship that might bemisaligned—even slightly. It could be a client, teammate, vendor, or even a partner/ spouse.

Ask three questions:

1. What do I think they expect from me right now?
2. What have we actually agreed to—out loud or in writing?
3. Where is the gap?

Then close the gap.

Because the best marketing, leadership, and teamwork doesn’t come from brilliance. It comes from unmistakable clarity.

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If this helped, forward it to someone who values accountability and hates confusion. If your expectations aren’t written, repeated, and respected—they don’t exist.

See you next Saturday. Stay clear. Stay sharp.