
Unlock honest feedback by asking for “advice” - mpweiher
https://m.signalvnoise.com/unlock-honest-feedback-with-this-one-word-dcaf3839e7ee#.6245ug2d8
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reubenswartz
Feedback implies critiquing a past performance.

Advice suggests guidance for a present or future task.

I agree that this small distinction is important. Even if it's something like
"here's what just happened, what's your feedback on how I handled it?" vs
"here's what just happened, what's your advice on how to deal with these
situations in the future."

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ry_ry
Horrible title aside, it's actually a fairly reasonable point, but feels like
a missed opportunity to write something more compelling about trading
business-speak for empathy.

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tzakrajs
I would have read it, good premise.

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altendo
Asking for advice is perfectly fine, provided that those giving it have no
expectation that it will be followed. I mention this only because sometimes,
when advice is given, there's an implicit assumption that it will be followed
- "You asked for advice, I told you to do X, but then you didn't do X! Why'd
you even bother asking for it then?!" \- when the person asking for it can
(and will) do whatever they want.

Of course, this doesn't help with hurt feelings when a person doesn't
implement advice, but that'd happen regardless of whether you're giving
feedback or advice.

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tylercubell
This article reminds me of sales techniques in general. For example, there's a
talk somewhere on YouTube by a sales guru I can't remember the name of, about
the art of closing. In the video he suggests using the word "agreement" over
"contract". People never want to sign a contract but everybody loves to agree
on something. The point is some words have unintended negative connotations
and word choice is very important when trying to steer a conversation or a
decision-making process.

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onion2k
Don't ask for feedback or advice. Ask for money. If someone is willing to buy
that's a very positive sign and you have a new customer. If they're not then
you can have a conversation about why, which either leads to some useful
feedback or you get to quickly ascertain that the person doesn't need what
you're building, in which case their advice (or feedback, or questions) would
have been pointless anyway.

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someotheruser1
Not really relevant to the article's premise of a CEO asking her board for
feedback - but a great idea in many other situations!

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pricechild
I don't think this has much at all to do with the words used.

Give it a few goes and eventually "advice" will become the bad word. People
will realise that they're just getting the same response that dissuaded them
originally from responding to requests for "feedback".

It's not the word you use, it's way you respond to what you receive.

My CEO currently asks for (and receives no) "questions".

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kornakiewicz
Words you use matter as well (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).

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colanderman
Sapir-Whorf is about grammar, not individual words:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity)

"The principle of linguistic relativity holds that the _structure_ of a
language affects its speakers' world view or cognition." (emphasis mine)

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vonnik
In SV, the old chestnut goes: "If you want money, ask for advice, and if you
want advice, ask for money." ;) So basically, never ask for money...

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burntrelish1273
Another approach is "how does this suck, and how do you think it could be
better?" starts off with a premise of unpolished-edges seeking honest input.
Also, only ask strangers, preferably likely customers, for feedback/advice
because it can seem a catch-22 to most friends and family.

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ejfox
tl;dr - talk like a human and not an MBA and people might actually communicate
with you.

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krackers
Ask for advice instead of feedback — saved you a click

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stonogo
Is the word 'clickbait'?

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ryan-allen
... that doctors hate?

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marak830
Side note: aren't these title styles becoming such a common click-bait trope
that everyone automatically discounts any information in the article by now?

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HenryBemis
a kind of Betteridge'a law of headlines, but on this one we are missing the
question mark..

Apart from that, being a "hated auditor" for more than a decade I agree that
"seeking advice" has a better ring than "seeking feedback".

Advice can be considered friendly, (sometimes) unofficial and positive, while
feedback "will be permanently put on your record!"

