Lesson 8: Feedback
Feedback can be difficult to hear. When you are a kid, feedback comes in direct consequences and rewards, whether from parents, teachers, or coaches. Adults tell you how you have performed. When you become an adult yourself, you get to choose whether to listen to feedback. You decide whose feedback you want.
I have gotten defensive sometimes (a lot of times) in the past, so there have been only a select few whom I have asked for feedback. It is an impulse to defend my writing or my calculation or my actions. However, if I do not change, this is going to hold me back in my long-term development as a leader. Therefore, I am working toward transforming this defensive posture into a receptive posture.
This week, the Robert Toigo Foundation hosted an online conference for people of color who are pursuing their MBA. While attending, I met an investor who works with people pursuing Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, like myself. He shared the advice he gives every entrepreneur on their first day once they acquire a business: be patient. Confidence is important for leadership, he explained, but it takes patience to learn the business before you try to change it.
In reflecting on this advice, I imagined what patience looks like in those first 6 - 18 months as CEO of a business. I do not want to walk the halls giving feedback to change the organization before knowing the organization. As I mentioned, I can get defensive when I receive feedback, even if it will help me improve. However, as I enter a new business, I will need to seek feedback from the people who have worked there: how can I best lead this business? I want to lead by example by proving I am willing to listen to everyone.
My values are to act with love, humility, and wisdom. Constantly asking myself “Is this humble?” will keep me grounded on this journey. Asking my team for feedback puts humility into action and builds a culture that can relieve the prickly connotation “feedback” can carry.
Feedback is Lesson 8. Next week, I will share Lesson 9: Rest.
