How to Take Feedback

If someone is giving you feedback, make him or her feel that it’s OK to do so. If you act defensively, get angry or push back, your adviser will make a note to self: I won’t be doing this again. If you make it hard for your colleagues and friends to give you constructive criticism, they will avoid you but act on their feelings anyway. It will help if you think of feedback as simply data. Keep it in perspective. You want to combine it with a hundred other pieces of information. Don’t supercharge any one piece of it. Use it as a clue.

How to give feedback

“The No. 1 rule of constructive criticism is, again, make the other person feel safe. You’ve got to let that person know you care about their success while still addressing your concerns.”

Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who’s Got Your Back: The Secret to Finding the Three People Who Will Change Your Life