Saturday, December 14, 2013

Even the President needs feedback

Fast Company takes a very high level look at the steps President Obama took to improve his debating skills after a poor showing in his first debate with Mitt Romney. The read is good through out with may Made to Stick reminders - keep it simple and practice, practice, practice. However we have been really thinking about improving sabha review so the following caught our attention.
Forage for Feedback 
Good presenters don’t totally rely on their own assessments of themselves. Instead, they seek honest feedback from trusted friends, co-workers, and family members. After each practice debate, Obama solicited opinions from his trainers, and they responded with honest feedback. 
“We’re not going to get there by continuing to grind away and marginally improve,” lead debate coach Ron Klain told him after one lackluster rehearsal. “This is not about changing the words in your debate book…this is about style, engagement, speed, presentation, attitude.”
The idea of foraging for feedback makes sense. If everyone says you did good (and does not give specifics of what the good was) or lists the many things you did wrong, that does not really help. We have to find our trusted group, our board of advisors to give us King of Ayodhya style feedback.

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