Mary Barra on the Gift of Feedback

Seeking out feedback is key to the success of any launch project.??Yet, it's one of the toughest things to do.??Why? Because when we really care and pour a lot of ourselves into an idea and take pride in it, hearing anything less than positive about it can feel like a personal criticism.??In this one minute video,??Mary Barra, the Chair and CEO of General Motors, provides a valuable perspective on feedback.??

"If you are doing something that's ineffective and not demonstrating what your true capability is, and no one ever tells you, how would you know???Feedback is a gift."

Often, we treat feedback as criticism and not something that we can welcome into our lives. But when we see feedback as a datapoint in time rather than something permanent, we get the chance to make the idea or project that we care about even better.

Successful launches are not singular endeavors. They require teams. So besides receiving feedback, if we can also have the courage to give feedback, we can create a culture of openness and transparency. This culture helps teammates keep each other accountable and hone in on what works and what doesn't. Not only do you improve individual performance, you accelerate collective excellence.

Feedback doesn't always have to be negative. It can also be positive. The key is to make it actionable. And feedback doesn't always have to be formal. Research by Georgia Hardavella of King’s College London shows that informal feedback and the casual nature of many interactions can build crucial learning mechanisms within our brain. If we can make giving and asking for feedback a habit that we build into our everyday leadership playbooks, we can not only launch more easily, we can grow towards becoming our best selves.

More insights: Mary Barra spoke in our Distinguished Speakers Series at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business on a year of innovation at GM which included standing up for inclusion, collaborating with a ventilator company to produce much needed ventilators, and the necessity of empowering people. Watch those insights here.

What I'm Learning:

In this 9 minute read in Fast Company, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Amy Edmonson write about the perils of "pervasive confidence" and the type of vulnerable leaders that we need today. I smiled to think of the vulnerability and courage that's needed to seek out and also to give feedback. And of the wisdom that's needed in order to make that feedback truly empowering.

Speaking of vulnerable and wise leaders, one of my favorite fictional leaders is Ted Lasso. If you haven't yet watched Season 1, this is one of the best leadership and team-building TV series in existence. I remember watching the first 2 episodes and thinking that in a world in which vulnerability can be mistaken for weakness, ceaseless belief in people be dismissed as na?veté, and relentless optimism as foolish, here's a show that celebrates and inspires us with these qualities. So, it was awesome to see this Wall Street Journal piece on how top sports team coaches such as Utah Jazz's Quin Snyder are taking pages from Ted Lasso's leadership playbook.

Leadership Plays from The Launch Book

Just as physical blindspots can be dangerous, psychological blindspots can cause a failure of imagination with dire consequences in launches.??They can keep you from seeing broader possibilities or serious challenges to your dreams that you need to address.??

To overcome blindspots, you need friends with gritty courage to tell you the truth.??You need to be open to feedback and put your listening ears on. - From Chapter 10: Love the Truthtellers and Naysayers. Read or listen to a sample chapter of The Launch Book in the updated audio book here.

Launch News

After 6 months in the making, we launched the?Duke University?Life of Significance Podcast!!! The past year has made us rethink how we matter, what matters, and who matters. It's helped us rethink what's significant and what's trivial. So - What does it mean to live a life of significance?

"This series is invested in how lives given in service of others form the contours of a meaningful life. Through the lens of everyday leaders—who come from all sectors, ages, genders, and backgrounds—the Life of Significance series surveys lives whose meaning, success, and gravity is found in the support and service of others."

For Episode 1, I teamed up with my good friend, Pau Gasol to interview Marley Dias, who founded ?#1000BlackGirlBooks when she was 12 years old. Pau himself exemplifies living a life of significance. He is a 2X NBA Champion, President of the Gasol Foundation, a Distinguished Fellow with our Coach K Leadership & Ethics Center, and is in Tokyo this month competing in the Olympics. In the episode, we discuss intergenerational courage, community, and what it means to live a life of significance at any age.

Visit www.DukeLifeofSignificance.org to learn more. And then, share your stories with us on social media with #DukeSignificance!

The series is a collaboration of?Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE)?at?Duke University's Fuqua School of Business?and?Duke Divinity School. It's made possible by a grant from?Paul Amos?and Courtney Amos Foundation.

Engage with Me

What defines constructive feedback? How does a culture of transparency translate to better performance? What's your favorite strategy to give feedback? Send me your stories in the comments or message me on LinkedIn.

What question do you have about launching into a new idea, life phase, project, or your next career? I look forward to answering in a future issue.