In this leadership talk, the speaker outlines practical approaches for giving feedback that motivates rather than demoralizes employees. The core ideas include catching people doing things right and celebrating those moments to foster a positive culture; learning each employee’s personal hopes and dreams and publicly acknowledging them to build confidence and a sense of being seen; delivering feedback in the style each individual prefers rather than using a one‑size‑fits‑all approach; and setting a clear, inspiring vision on a new hire’s first day, emphasizing that every employee is part of a larger purpose and is expected to leave the organization as a better version of themselves. Together, these practices aim to create a workplace where people feel safe, inspired, and fulfilled by their work.
Chapters
Number 1, catch people doing things right. Most people, what we do, because especially when it's high stress, we catch people when they're doing things wrong, right? It's demoralizing and it makes people operate out of fear. Catch people doing things right, celebrate it. This is what I— I love that you're doing this. It sends a message to everybody to work this way, and it's incredibly inspiring for the person who gets caught doing something right. Learning what somebody's hopes and dreams are. I've seen companies do this where they have a board at the back where they literally put every employee's name and their hopes and dreams on display that have nothing to do with the company. And we can help them achieve their hopes and dreams. We can help them learn. You want to build their confidence. You want to help them feel seen and heard as human beings. You want to give them feedback in a way that they can hear it. One of the things we don't do is learn how to give feedback the way other people want to hear it. We usually give feedback the way we like to get it ourselves. I give every employee who joins our company a little talk on the first day of their employment. I call them up individually and I tell them, "I only have two things to say to you." One, I tell them what they're a part of. I remind them they're a part of something bigger than themselves, and I tell them what the vision is: to create a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are, and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do. That they're a part of that now, and I expect them to take themselves on. I say that whether you're with us for a short term or a long term, whether you like it here or hate it here, my expectation is that you will leave here a better version of yourself because you were here. We will give you some of the resources, and I expect you to take on yourself as well outside of this organization. And that is a minimal level set. So these are the kinds of things— making people feel seen and heard and understood, that somebody's in their corner trying to help them grow.
