No, I Don't Do Feedback (including reading the draft of your book for free)

 "What Would You Give for Fewer Customer Feedback Surveys?" - The Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2022.

"Feedback" is positioned and packaged as an on-the-side-of-the-angels concept. Our assessments are, we are informed, to help in so many ways. So, the squeeze is put on for us to invest time and thought into providing whatevers about a product, service, or experience.

Of course, like all concepts the request for feedback has seeped into so many aspects of professional and personal life. Sometimes in stunning ways.

A professor at a brandname university cotntacted me cold. He had been aware of my track record in publishing books about careers. Still in print is my guide "The Critical First Years of Your Professional Life." Yes, he requested that I give him feedback on the draft of his book. No compensation, of course. That's usually the game. (However, Nielsen does slip a few bucks into snail mail for my opinion.)

I was polite with the "no." Maybe I won't be in the future. How annoying. How disrespectful of my time.

Actually, in connecting the dots about feedback - something I have to do in advising my coaching clients about their performance reviews - I have come up with this: The request for it screams insecurity. At this or that stage of a business or professional life there should be a better hold on what is going down or could go down. There should be more of a sense of being in the know. Sure, chat it up in one's inner circle of advisors. But don't put it out there for any kind of consensus.

When some of my clients are considering starting their business they assume they should ask for feedback prior to the launch. I respond with the need to put it out there and then observe what the market says. Then keep doing the course correction. The operation of the Invisible Hand is powerful.

You may need to change jobs, careers, or from being a worker to entrepreneurship. You are not alone. So many are at a crossroads. Complimentary consultation for coaching, job-search materials, and interviewing. The menu of services includes Tarot readings, both spreads and one-card pulls. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.