Feedback

As a college football player at Bowdoin College, Jake has become accustomed to receiving feedback from his coaches. What surprised him, however, was discovering that every season ends with the conversation going both ways. After hearing feedback about their own performance, each player spends the second half of the meeting offering thoughtful feedback to the coach. Learning to navigate those conversations has helped Jake develop one of his greatest strengths: Feedback.

For Jake, effective Feedback is far more than pointing out what someone could do better. It begins with understanding the person sitting across from you. Everyone receives Feedback differently, he explains, so delivering it well requires empathy, preparation, and the ability to communicate honestly while respecting how the other person is likely to hear it.

Before those end-of-season meetings, Jake spends time thinking carefully about what he wants to say. He wants his coach to leave with clear, constructive ideas. Giving honest Feedback to someone with more experience and authority isn't always easy, but he has learned that thoughtful preparation and genuine respect make difficult conversations far more productive.

Jake has also discovered that trust makes all the difference. Feedback is easier to receive when it comes from someone who has invested in the relationship. When people know you care about their success, they're more willing to hear difficult truths because they understand your intention is to help them grow, not tear them down.

That perspective has shaped the way Jake thinks about Feedback. Rather than diminishing someone's confidence, he hopes his conversations strengthen it. He believes the best Feedback recognizes what a person is already doing well while offering a clear path toward improvement. When people leave feeling encouraged instead of defeated, they're much more likely to act on what they've heard.

Perhaps Jake's most unexpected insight is that Feedback doesn't only change the person receiving it. Every time he offers advice or coaching to someone else, he naturally turns inward and evaluates himself. Am I doing this? Could I improve here, too? The same observations that help another person grow also become an invitation to his own growth as well.

His advice is to approach Feedback with honesty and humility. No one has everything figured out, and everyone has room to improve. For Jake, that's the hidden gift of the Feedback strength. The moment he helps someone else grow, he finds himself growing, too.

"The moment I give someone else feedback, I start giving it to myself."

- Jake