Why Good Feedback Isn’t Always Good Feedback

I remember my first startup. I remember coming up with the idea. I remember getting excited. Most of all I remember my unwillingness to absorb any negative feedback. I believed that my idea was the best idea and anyone who told me to the contrary was just trying to shoot me down. I’ve grown since then and one of the primary reasons I’ve been able to learn and absorb so much since then, is because I slashed that notion. That’s what this article is about.

Good feedback isn’t always good feedback. I remember many of those humbling conversations. I remember the sinking feeling I’d get in the pit of my stomach when someone told me that I was wrong, that my idea wasn’t thought through enough. My mind was indecisive about shifting into anger or devastation. I don’t think this is a unique experience to me, I think it’s a natural obstacle to overcome when you’re bright and bushy eyed.

So why is bad feedback important? Well I don’t think I need to get overly technical about this. People telling you that your Idea F#*king Sucks is healthy. Not because it always feels good but because negative feedback is honest feedback. Now of course it doesn’t mean that this feedback should ever be delivered in a mean or belittling tone, because we have all been there and that’s not productive. However it does mean that people are “ Thinking Critically ”. There are courses in university dedicated to critical thinking, learning how to challenge your opinions or ideas and take them a layer deeper. We are constantly told to think…