Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Elon Musk I listen to Negative Feedback

Musk: I Listen to Negative Feedback
Elon Musk has been hit hard with negative news lately. Consider this:
* Three fires in his Tesla Model S sedan.
* A government probe into the safety of his electric car.
* A stock price that's down about 27% since its peak in September.
Even Amazon's Jeff Bezos won't give him a break (see Blue Origins competition in outer space).
Which all reminded me of an interview I did earlier this year with Elon - before all the latest hubbub happened - for my upcoming book, Work Smarts. Sitting down over a pasta lunch, Elon reminisced about another challenging time in his career beginning in 2007, when critics were ready to bury Tesla.
"I had so many sleepless nights and a great deal of fear," he said.
While Elon did eventually climb out of the hole to create what's now considered one of the most innovative companies around, he says his strategy of listening to negative feedback can be very useful.
Here's a snippet of our conversation:

Elon: I think it’s important for people to pay close attention to negative feedback and rather than ignore negative feedback, you have to listen to it carefully. Ignore it if the underlying reason for the negative feedback doesn’t make sense but otherwise, people should adjust their behavior. I’m not perfect at it, for sure, but I do think it’s really important to solicit negative feedback, particularly from people who have your best interest in mind.
Me: But that’s just putting yourself open to criticism. People may think that makes them look vulnerable or weak.
Elon: I think that I would recommend the opposite. I think that you should always be seeking negative feedback. Positive feedback you’ll get automatically, particularly if it’s a friend. They’re happy to praise or compliment you on something, but they are less likely to tell you if you’re doing something stupid. They don’t want you to feel bad.
Me: How do you solicit the negative feedback?
Elon: I ask specifically what am I doing wrong. And if I’ve asked that a few times of people, then they will start automatically telling me without me having to always ask the question. So like for the Model S, I said I don’t really want to know what’s right about the car. I want to know what’s wrong with the car.
Little did Elon know how critical that thinking would be in the coming months.
How about you? How open are you to hearing negative feedback?

Photo: Heisenberg Media/Flickr
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Please visit Betty's website for a free chapter of Work Smarts. The book is available December 16th on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.

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