Thanks for the Feedback

The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

By: Sheila Heen, Douglas Stone

Narrated by: Sheila Heen, Douglas Stone

The coauthors of the New York Times best-selling Difficult Conversations take on the toughest topic of all: How we see ourselves.

Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen have spent the past 15 years working with corporations, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. In Thanks for the Feedback, they explain why receiving feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, offering a simple framework and powerful tools to help us take on life’s blizzard of offhand comments, annual evaluations, and unsolicited input with curiosity and grace. They blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice. Thanks for the Feedback is destined to become a classic in the fields of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.

©2014 Douglas Stone (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Thanks for the Feedback is an extraordinarily useful book. It's full of helpful techniques that can be put to use by anyone seeking to manage an organization, lead a team, engage a business partner, or navigate a relationship.... Stone and Heen have done a remarkable job of showing individuals and organizations how to leverage the enormous value of feedback, one of the most powerful instruments available for human learning." (strategy+business magazine)

"Surprisingly little attention has been focused on being an effective recipient of feedback. Enter Stone and Heen with a well-rounded consideration of 'the science and art of receiving feedback well'. As they write, both of those disciplines are required to receive feedback in productive ways - not only in the workplace, but in personal life as well....the authors do an excellent job of constraining the applications to feedback usefulness while also exploring some of the other ways we can define what "feedback" consists of in our lives. With a culture increasingly focused on the individual and the self, this book on developing the ability to accept and utilize the input of others constructively deserves a wide readership." (Kirkus Reviews)

"I'll admit it: Thanks for the Feedback made me unconformable. And that's one reason I liked it so much. With keen insight and lots of practical takeaways, Stone and Heen reveal why getting feedback is so hard - and then how we can do better. If you relish receiving criticism at work and adore it in your personal life, then you may be the one person on earth who can safely skip this book." (Daniel H. Pink, author of to Sell Is Human and Drive)

Beneficial Information, Important Skill

I happened to listen to this book while participating in Toastmasters, an organization that incorporates regular feedback into its program. The book is very helpful with respect to recognizing the need to develop the ability to work well with feedback. Listening to this book helped take much of both the stress and the sting out of feedback. I am now more able to look at feedback as a positive, particularly when delivered well and early. Someone has taken the time to offer me the benefit of their opinion. I have the opportunity to consider their opinion and determine whether to agree with and act on the feedback.

Participating in a contest and honing a speech with repeated feedback definitely left me with the impression that seeking and using feedback accelerated my improvement.

This is one of those books that I have listened to over and over again. It is probably another of the occasional books that I will eventually buy in paper or e-book format because of the wealth of useful information available in the book.

I gave a well received Toastmasters speech inspired by the ideas in this audiobook.

I recommend it for assistance in developing skill in both giving and receiving feedback. I believe that listening to this book has helped me provide others with more useful feedback, delivered in a more constructive manner.

Not the greates narration ever and the book could have benefitted from more professional narration. But, there may also be some benefit from hearing the voices of the authors, perhaps to a lesser extent.

So good

Wow, the content here is just outstanding. I hadn’t even finished listening to it and was already applying things and seeing an impact. Gives really helpful language about feedback, and tons of great tips. Loved it. 5 stars for content.

Great information almost ruined by bad narration

If you could sum up Thanks for the Feedback in three words, what would they be?

Useful
Helpful
Boring

What was one of the most memorable moments of Thanks for the Feedback?

I enjoyed how they deconstructed various aspects of giving and receiving feedback.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrators were the worst part of this listening experience. Sheila was alright, if not a little rehearsed-sounding. Douglas was quiet, mumbly and did not articulate enough. I found myself having to turn the volume way up to hear what he had to say, and then have my ears blown out when Sheila came back on.

What did you learn from Thanks for the Feedback that you would use in your daily life?

I collaborate daily with members of my team. Feedback is an important aspect of our work, no matter where it comes from. This will really help me to phrase my feedback in a way that it will be well-received, as well as allow me to digest feedback given to me and turn it into improvements in my own work.

Any additional comments?

PLEASE hire a professional to narrate this! It took me months to get through this book because I could only stand to listen to a bit at a time.

Otherwise, this book contains great information for anyone looking to improve how they give and receive feedback. Great for high, mid, and low level employees alike.

Needs a new narrator.

Sheila is not bad but Douglas puts me to sleep and I lose interest in what he is saying. I’m only 2 hours in and I’m ready to return this book.

Wish I had read this years ago

Ever been told you don't listen? Or that you're responsible for your own development? Have you ever been left with only seemingly bad feedback and no solutions? If you've ever felt stuck in your career or other areas of your life, this book could be a critical turning point of learning for you. The authors adeptly outline emotional triggers for giving and receiving feedback and obstacles we all face regardless of on which side of the feedback we sit. There are plenty of appropriate and relatable examples throughout the book to help us better internalize and understand tools and processes we can use to improve both receiving and giving feedback. At times I found myself laughing out loud at some of the examples because it was as if they had been a fly on the wall throughout my career. Great insight and recommendations for how to improve the quality of your relationships in and out of work.

Helpful information, narration was not great.<br />

It helped me understand why people, including myself, have such diverse reactions to feedback/criticism, and gave some concrete suggestions for making giving & receiving feedback more effective.

The narration could be better. I personally preferred the female narrator and found her easy to listen to. The male narrator mumbles and is difficult to understand.

Awesome!

Loved this book! It will help in so many areas o my life! I feel like it's already changed the way I Veiw and handle feedback

very useful and pragmatic book base on research

very useful and pragmatic book base on research. the book try to create chunks of 3 main things to do or to remember or to take out that becomes very useful for application. it also don't try to go to research and explain too much about underline brain functions except in a couple of places that makes the book into the point without to many fillers related to brain functions like the majority of related books. i recommend it a lot and if you are a manager i recommend it more. it helps to change your deliver feedback and help to understand the reactions to your feedback and your own blind spots

Listen more then once

A wealth of knowledge and tips to help one overcome negativity and regret by giving tips and honesty in our relationships with our friends, spouses, and workplaces. It is a work in progress for all so give it a try and be honest with yourself

Practical and helpful

Great tips and very practical. I have the hard copy too but appreciated the audible version as I like to listen while walking, doing housework, etc., but hard-copy is very helpful as a guide at work, when teaching, etc.