Give the Feedback You'd Want to Get

You've been on the wrong end of it.

The vague "be better."
The public correction.
The note that was really
just someone venting at you.

You remember how it landed.
So don't hand it to anyone else.

Give the feedback you'd have wanted.

Specific, so they can act on it.
Private, so they can hear it.
Kind, because the goal is their growth,
not your relief.

And aimed at the work,
never at who they are.

The hardest truth
can be said in a way
that leaves someone's dignity intact.

That's not softness.
That's the whole craft.

Be the note you wish you'd gotten
back when it stung for no reason.

– Asael Shinder