Cameron Herold and a peer discuss why "feedback is a gift" backfires. High-performers often react defensively because feedback highlights what they already know they're weak at. Instead, treat it like a workout: uncomfortable but purposeful, delivered by someone who knows what they're doing, meant to strengthen you.
Chapters
How do you stay open as a leader to feedback from your peers? Like feedback about you and feedback on how you can grow. I used to really take it very personally. I almost got confrontational at times with my feedback. I felt like it was criticism and now I'm way open to it. How do you stay open to it?
I couldn't agree more with you on like that journey. And I think many of us go through that journey, right? Especially people who have a high bar for themselves. And usually the reason we react to that feedback is like somewhere we already recognize like we could have done that better. And so, and then someone kind enough point it out, you're like, ooh, that hurts a little. There's a common phrase of like, feedback's a gift, which also kind of makes people feel like feedback can be unloaded on you in any form and it's a gift and you're, you know, you're supposed to be open to it. My alternative is I have come to see feedback as like a good workout. The reason I like that analogy is like, there's definitely some mornings where not looking forward to the workout, but I know it's good for me. I feel great after I do it. But I also like that analogy because when I think about feedback, that if I'm taking Taking a good class, you know, with a good trainer, the feedback that that person might give me is really to help me get better, to make sure I'm not hurting myself, right? But it's also very specific to me, and it gives me ideas of what I could do better, you know, in a particular exercise.
