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RIP: My Favorite Learning Instrument
How do you improve? When I was a kid, understanding what I needed to work on was pretty clear — grades would tell me where I needed to improve academically, and athletically, coaches would be all over me for the smallest mistake despite the fact it was usually pretty obvious where I went wrong. We all despised angry coaches and tough teachers growing up. Looking back on that, I wish I had an angry coach or tough teacher in my life now.
As our society becomes more and more anxious about what you can and can’t say, I’ve found constructive criticism has essentially disappeared. More than ever we are increasingly worried about other people’s feelings. And that’s not entirely a bad thing, but I think we overlook the cost associated with this attitude. The thing I miss most that seems to have been jettisoned as a result of this new cultural norm is constructive criticism.
My two favorite bosses were earlier in my career, more than 10 years ago. They are my favorite because of how much I learned from them. They were not shy about telling me where I needed to improve, and because they made me aware of those areas, I was able to improve. And I felt good about improving.
One of those good managers had a rule about asking for feedback from colleagues. After every meeting, I would ask whomever was also present from my team to highlight two…
