Page 93 - The Voice of Authority

entation they’ve evidently just delivered in Chicago. Amy
says to Jeanne, “I hate it when he critiques my presenta-
tions. He does that all the time. My slides. The structure. I
don’t think he’s all that good himself. I thought I did fine
today.”
“Yeah, you did great,” Jeanne responds.
Amy leaves to go get a cup of coffee and find a place to
charge her cell phone.
Bill returns with the hamburgers and joins Jeanne. They
unwrap their burgers and start eating. Bill gets interrupted
immediately by a cell phone call. When he finishes the con-
versation, Jeanne asks, “Was that about the job? Have you
decided who’s going to get the promotion?”
“Yeah. Steve. I’m going to announce it on Monday. He
did a fabulous job today in the meeting. We’re sure to win
that contract.”
“Amy doesn’t like it when you critique her on her pre-
sentations,” Jeanne says. “She’s intimidated.”
“That’s too bad. She could be so much better—if she got
some help with those skills.”
Jeanne nodded agreement and their conversation
moved on to other topics before Amy rejoined them.
Two things struck me about that snippet of overheard
conversation. (1) Jeanne told Amy what she wanted to
hear—“You did great.” (2) Amy had likely missed a pro-
motion because she routinely rejected feedback from her
boss.
But emotional maturity and openness to direct com-
munication without defensiveness know no age bound-
aries. The following is an example of two senior vice pres-
idents who stand in stark contrast in their ability to solicit
and accept feedback.
I’d been working with a marketing group on a global
conference they planned to host for their clients. After we

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