Seek Critique

In his classic, Conceptual Blockbusting, legendary Stanford Design Professor Jim Adams describes working with someone whom he called “one of the best idea-havers” he’d ever known. He regularly employed a tactic that most folks avoid at all costs: he actively sought and embraced criticism. “Given a problem, he would instantly throw together a solution. These solutions were often so poorly thought-out that I would almost break out in a rash. He would then happily go to the next office and receive so much criticism on the idea that, had it been me, I would have been sent into a depression for several days. He would incorporate the criticism into his idea and proceed to the next office. In this way, he would literally construct a solution step-by-step, usually an outstanding one. He was successful because of his ability to accept and incorporate criticism.”

I was struck by how this world-class idea-haver employed criticism as a trampoline to spring forward more quickly than he could have on his own. We see it time and again at the d.school: sharing before we feel ready accelerates the development process, rather than hinders it.

If such constructive criticism is so valuable, why don’t we see more of it in the workplace? In short, because we don’t seek it out. For constructive criticism to work, it has to be on-request. Trier Bryant is an incredibly accomplished leader, having held positions in the military, financial services, and tech. Now, she’s the CEO of Just Work. She told me how once, “I purposely brought an objectively terrible idea to my team. They all sort of went with it, saying how maybe it could work, but it was truly terrible. I had to stop them in the middle of the meeting and say, ‘Folks! This is a terrible idea! Why didn’t any of you tell me?’”

In that way, Trier started laying the foundation of psychological safety required to give criticism. As the environment that Ed Catmull and the leaders of Pixar have created through their “Dailies” ritual clearly demonstrates, such safety doesn’t come unless leaders actively model a willingness to embrace feedback. Deliberately seek it out, and challenge teams to challenge them.

Such openness to critique has a ripple effect across an entire organization.

Related: Sharing Before You Feel Ready
Related: Psychological Safety

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