As Steve Jobs said, we are in our own reality distortion field. We see the world through our own lens, with unconscious biases and perspectives. What you don’t know about yourself will doom you to failure. Want to be a better leader? Want to be a great entrepreneur? Want to be a better parent? Want to be better person? Then you have to become an expert at soliciting feedback. I say expert because this is a learned skill that takes many years to master. The reason being is it’s VERY hard to hear feedback. It’s hard to hear that you have weaknesses and you have to work on improving yourself. It take courage and thick skin and the ability to keep the end – your improvement – at the top of your mind. On the other side of the table, it’s VERY hard for other people to give you honest feedback. They don’t want to hurt your feelings, even though some things you do may really bother them.
How to get honest feedback:
- Ask for it! There are many questions you can ask to get feedback, and the first step is alerting the other person that you actually want to hear it.
- Try your best to not react defensively or get upset, especially in the moment you are getting the feedback.
- Act on it! When someone gives you feedback, you have to show them you heard them and are taking it seriously by actually acting on it.