You can watch this Meme Lesson on Feedback on YouTube.
"Be more strategic" is not feedback. It's a complaint wearing a suit.
Sentences like Be more strategic. Step up. Show more ownership. Be more commercial in your thinking. Feel like feedback. They arrive in the cadence of feedback, with great conviction.
They are not feedback.
They are complaints dressed up for work.
Here is the test. The camera test.
Could a camera have recorded the thing you are about to give feedback on?
You interrupted Tom three times in the meeting — pass.
You do not seem engaged — fail.
You missed the Tuesday deadline by four days — pass.
You need to show more ownership — fail.
You sent the document without the financials — pass.
You are not strategic enough — fail.
One's feedback. The other is vibes.
What happens when the vibes arrive is worse than it looks.
The employee cannot act to be more strategic, because nobody has told them what that means.
But they cannot dismiss it either, because it came from their manager.
So they do the only thing left: they interpret.
And the interpretation is never neutral.
It is always a projection of their worst professional fear.
