A Culture of Criticism

Lately, I've found myself giving and asking for criticism. A lot. I am so hungry to know what people think about their experience with my business. It's not enough to hear "you guys are great" or "I like Ervin".

What is it that is not being said- that's what I really need to hear. I really want to know how I can get better, but unless I hear it from you, I risk spending time, effort and money fixing or improving things that are currently unnoticed, or unimportant to my actual clients and future clients.

What is that one piece of feedback, that you're almost embarrassed to give me, because you think it might come across as nit-picky or petty? I want to hear that.

Or how bout that "feeling" that you got when I shifted gears and started talking about that sales promotion. You were confident I had good intentions, but it felt salesy and awkward. Ya, I want to know about that too. 

Or maybe you heard someone else talking about my business and knew that if you were me, you'd love to know what they were saying. You're right, I'd really like to know. 

I wrote recently about holding a "post-mortem" for small businesses. A chance to learn from eachother's failures. A bunch of the feedback I got on that pointed toward's people's desire to see struggling businesses get help before they went under. I feel that. 

I want to be apart of, and perpetuate a culture of criticism amongst business owners. The business owners I like the most, ought to be the ones I share criticism with most freely. I want them to "survive and thrive." Frankly even if I don't like a certain business or product, if they adopt this cultural perspective, I want them to succeed too. 

Of course, encouragement, affirmation and general positivity is also beneficial to all, but rarely does growth and positive change come from it. 

I was so pumped this evening to get a response from a business owner I recently bought something from, after sending them some feedback. They appreciated it! The best part though- they included in their response some criticism for my business (they are also a new customer) and it was spot on. Great, actionable feedback. Something I just hadn't been paying attention to. Love it. 

The Bible refers to this as "iron sharpening iron". I like that. Sparks fly. Sharp knives cut better.

If you're a business owner, or frankly anyone who has any kind of "ownership" role, please consider joining me in this fresh new culture of criticism.