I’ve been guilty of only seeking positive feedback too. But I really have to change this bad habit and so should you. Don’t blame, blame Elon Musk. He thinks it is the most fundamental advice for every entrepreneur striving for big things. Elon thinks that setting up good corrective feedback loops is the biggest challenge in life and I’m convinced that it is his learning/success secret. This time he talks about negative feedback.
In this interview from 2012, the interviewer ask’s Elon for a piece of advice he would give someone who is just starting out in entrepreneurship.
Elon: “I think in terms of advice, I think it is very important to actively seek out and listen very carefully to negative feedback. This is something people tend to avoid because it is painful, but I think this is a very common mistake.”
– Where do you look for feedback?
Elon: “I get feedback from everyone I talk to, in fact when friends get a product I say to them ‘don’t tell me what you like, tell me what you don’t like’ because otherwise, your friend is not going to tell you what he doesn’t like.”