“Feedback doesn’t tell you about you; it tells you about them”.
When I first read it, I found this quote by Eric Ries very questionable. Feedback does tell you about you! Otherwise that’s not feedback, right?
Eric Ries (author of “the Lean Startup”) mentions this particularly regarding customer feedback. Here’s the full quote, though:
“The key to getting over the fear of customer feedback: feedback doesn’t tell you about you, it tells you about them. Haters are the best sources of great feedback, your fans won’t go into the details”.
Now I can agree with him in that context; and in particular, that it is important as an entrepreneur to identify and listen to the detractors, because they will often have a point. And to listen to those that take the time to give you feedback. You might or not listen to them or follow their suggestion. Still it is important to listen to contradicting views. Eric Ries even goes further in the book to give a method to decide when and when not to listen to feedback on a product.
- What can we learn about those who give feedback?
And yes, of course, feedback definitely tells you something about the person who gives it to you. Some even draw cartoons around that!
Getting real tough feedback is not nice, but it’s a gift. And let’s recognize that it is a rare gift, because giving feedback is quite difficult emotionally and so most people avoid it. So it tells you something about strong the person who gave it to you. Actually some of the people that gave me the toughest feedback became some of my best friends.
Why? Because passed the first impact, I managed to take the feedback as it was meant, positively. And I knew these people cared enough to take the risk of giving feedback.
Think about it: aren’t the people closest to you those that give more consistently tougher feedback?
