In a 1965 experiment, Robert Rosenthal randomly labeled 20% of elementary students as "growth spurters" destined for unusual intellectual gains—and those students actually showed 50% greater IQ gains than their peers. They succeeded not because they were gifted, but because teachers unconsciously poured more into them through higher standards, warmer communication, more challenging assignments, and better feedback. This Pygmalion effect—where high expectations lead to higher performance—applies equally to adults in the workplace. Managers' beliefs about their employees leak out through subtle behaviors, body language, tone, and facial expressions that team members pick up on, shaping motivation and performance in powerful ways. The flip side is true, too. Lower expectations lead to worse outcomes, creating a vicious cycle where leaders who view their teams as untrustworthy, incompetent, or lazy inadvertently create the very behaviors they complain about. The solution requires extreme ownership and accepting that if your team isn't performing or your culture feels toxic, it starts with you.

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