如何建立更深层、更稳固的关系 | Carole Robin(斯坦福教授,"Touchy Feely")
How to build deeper, more robust relationships | Carole Robin (Stanford professor, “Touchy Feely”)
About the Guest
Lenny Rachitsky: Many people told you your class at Stanford made them feel like their entire college tuition was worth it.
Carole Robin: Even more rewarding for me are the, “I’m pretty sure your class just saved my marriage.”
The Course’s Deep Impact
Lenny Rachitsky: I want to talk about how to give feedback well.
Carole Robin: I feel that you don’t care and I feel you’re being insensitive are not feelings, and that’s where we make our biggest mistakes when it comes to feedback.
Meaning of Exceptional Relationships
Lenny Rachitsky: How do you avoid people getting defensive?
Tangible Benefits of Exceptional Relationships
Carole Robin: Questions that start with what, when, where, how. Stay away from why.
What Is “Interpersonal Dynamics”?
Lenny Rachitsky: I think it might be helpful to talk about this concept that you call the three realities.
Carole Robin: We don’t understand that we are only privy to two out of the three, so I know what’s going on for me and I know what I did. I have no idea what happened on your end.
T-Groups: Experiential Learning
Lenny Rachitsky: That’s a really profound point that anger is a secondary emotion. Really what’s going on is you’re afraid or you’re hurt.
Carole Robin: What a disservice to not help people understand that anger is a distancing emotion and there are other emotions that are connecting.
Progressive Disclosure & the 15% Rule
Lenny Rachitsky: Today my guest is Carole Robin. For over 20 years, Carole taught the legendary course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, nicknamed Touchy Feely technically called Interpersonal Dynamics, which helps people learn how to build strong relationships and become much more effective leaders. She then went on to start a non-profit called Leaders in Tech, which brings these same lessons to leaders of high-tech growth companies, and she also wrote an incredibly impactful book called Connect, which distills all the key insights and lessons from her decades running this course. I’ve had so many friends go through the Stanford course or the Leaders in Tech program, and every single one of them was transformed in terms of how they relate to other people, how they communicate, and how they lead. In my conversation with Carole, we talk about why we’re often trapped in mental models that we formed when we were younger and how they now limit us and limit our potential and our ways of seeing world.
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The 15% Rule (Continued)
Carole Robin: Thank you so much for having me, Lenny. I’m delighted to be here.
Vulnerability Strengthens Leadership
Lenny Rachitsky: I’ve heard from so many people over the years how much you and your course have impacted their life, both friends of mine, and also people when I shared on Twitter that you were coming on the podcast, so many people left comments just like, “Oh my God, that course and Carole’s changed my life in so many ways.” So I am really excited to have you here. I’m really honored to have you here.
Carole Robin: Thank you.
How to Start Practicing
Lenny Rachitsky: I wanted to start with when we were preparing for this podcast, you shared this quote with me. You told me that “I was put on this planet to help people learn that it’s possible to learn how to build and develop robust, meaningful relationships.” What are robust, meaningful relationships and why are they important to you? Why are they important to people?
Examples of Using Feelings
Carole Robin: I think that most people experience a richer, fuller, more meaningful life when they have at least some high quality relationships or maybe put the other way. If you have none, it’s unlikely you’re going to experience quite as rich and full a life. So I often talk about relationships exist on a continuum. At one end of the continuum is contact and no connection, or we could also say dysfunction. And by the way, contact no connection. Those are thousands of Facebook friends. Those are not relationships and those are not friends in my vocabulary. At the other end of the continuum is what my co-author David Bradford and I came to call exceptional, and exceptional relationships have a particular set of characteristics that I can get into if you want to. But before I even do that, we’re not suggesting, and I’m not suggesting that everybody needs to turn every one of their relationships into something exceptional.
That would be, first of all, impractical, second of all, unnecessary. But it turns out that the skills you need to move along that continuum actually take you from contact and no connection and dysfunction to at least functional and robust. And then once you’ve acquired those skills, then you can decide whether or not you want to take a few of those relationships a lot farther, take them all the way to exceptional, but at least you’ve gained what you need to know in order to get to functional and robust. And I believe if we had a critical mass of human beings on this planet who had those skills and knew how to get to at least robust and functional, we wouldn’t just have more functional teams and organizations, we’d have stronger communities, we’d have more functional schools. We might, in my wildest dreams, even have a more functional government. And so that’s my life’s mission.
Lenny Rachitsky: Hopefully this episode is going to actually do exactly that, help people build from-
Updating Mental Models
Carole Robin: From your mouth to God’s ears.
Lenny Rachitsky: To give people a little more motivation to really dig in and pay deep attention to this. What are some of the benefits you’ve seen from people moving further along the spectrum, building more robust relationships and more exceptional relationships?
Can Feedback Ruin Relationships?
Carole Robin: Obviously, I taught a course for many, many years at Stanford Business School, and it was the Stanford Business School, by the way. It wasn’t hidden away somewhere in the psychology department. And that’s because the premise of the course is that people do business with people not ideas, not products, not machines, not tactics, strategies, not even money, they do business with people. So you better get the people part right if you really want to succeed. And that interpersonal competence is a determinant of both personal and professional success. So, to your question, I’ve lost track of how many hundreds of emails and calls and visits I’ve had from former students who come to tell me I just became a CEO. I’m pretty sure I owe it all to you. I just raised my third round. I’m pretty sure I owe it all to you.
I just figured out how my co-founder and I are going to navigate this very difficult situation we’re in. Thank you for everything you taught me, and those are exceedingly satisfying. And I’ll tell you, even more rewarding for me are the, “I’m pretty sure your class just saved my marriage.” I just reconciled my relationship with my brother who I hadn’t talked to for two years because he voted for X and I voted for Y. We don’t need to get into who X and Y are. And now I get thank you for finally writing a book because my VP of product didn’t go to Stanford and doesn’t understand what I’m talking about. So at least I bought them a book and now I’ve got more and more folks sending people to Leaders in Tech, which we can talk about later, which is the nonprofit I started after I left Stanford, so that more and more people can learn this from more than just a book.
Two Antennas, Three Realities
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing. And I think what I love, you also shared this point that many people told you that that one class at Stanford Business School at GSB was made them feel like their entire college tuition was worth it from that one class, which is so surprising because it’s called Touchy Feely, it has nothing to do specifically with business.
Methods of Communication
Carole Robin: Except of course it has everything to do with business.
Lenny Rachitsky: So to follow that thread, can you just talk about what this class is trying to do, what the goal of this class is and what actually goes on in this class? And again, people call this class Touchy Feely. I think it’s technically called Interpersonal Dynamics.
Mutual Discovery in Feedback
Carole Robin: That’s correct.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay.
Constructive vs. Positive Feedback
Carole Robin: That’s correct. Yeah.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. What is this class all about? Help people understand what goes on here.
Practical Feedback Examples
Carole Robin: Well, first of all, it’s a quarter long class at a really fundamental level we’ve already really talked about what goes on there. People learn how to be more interpersonally competent or how to connect with other people in more functional ways. And what I mean by connect is learn how I need to show up in order for you to trust me, in order for you to feel closer to me, in order for you to want to spend more time with me in a leadership. By the way, this is part of the leadership curriculum I taught, in a leadership sense that makes you more likely to want to follow me because in the end, that’s the question leaders should ask themselves, “Why should somebody follow me?” And you know what? You could study other leaders. Why did somebody follow Steve Jobs? Why did somebody follow Ursula at Xerox? Why did some people follow Sheryl Sandberg or why should somebody follow me? Because I’m not any of those people. So the question I ask my students to sit in and now my Leaders in Tech participants to sit in is why should somebody follow you?
Now, there are lots of reasons why people might follow you. You’ve got a great vision that’s very inspiring. You have a product that they want to bring into the world. They think they may make a lot of money if they hitch their wagon to you. Those are all good reasons. But if you want to build a sustainable long-term legacy, then you probably want to think about showing up in a way that other people come to see you as a referent figure, somebody in their life that they say, “When I grow up, I want to be more like that.” And that is a form of power. There’s a lot of research that supports this, referent power. You’re a referent figure, and then people are much likely to be open to your influence, and open to working harder, and open to doing some of the things that you believe are going to make you great as a whole organization.
The Art of Inquiry
Lenny Rachitsky: The class is quite unusual in that there’s not just a bunch of lectures and talks, there’s a lot of experiential pieces where you have to do quite uncomfortable things in order to learn how to do this well. Can you share an example or two of some of the things you put people through, whatever you’re able to share?
Carole Robin: Sure. I mean, I think that we don’t learn to be… And I don’t learn how to connect with you by reading about it in a book, which by the way is why it took us four years to write our book because at the end of every chapter there’s a, here are things you can go do with what you just learned in the reading. And likewise in the class, the lectures are scaffolding on which you can hang your experience. But most of the learning happens in these small groups called T groups. The T stands for training, not therapy. And sometimes people think they sound like therapy, and they sometimes even experience them as feeling a little bit like therapy, but that’s not what they are. We call them training groups. And what happens in that group is that there’s 12 participants and two facilitators, and they are, for example, given a task, I might pair two students up and say, okay, you’ve got 10 minutes.
Allow the other person to get to know you. And that’s the only instruction I give. Okay, so now you and I look at each other and we’re like, “I don’t know what the heck that’s supposed to mean.” And then maybe I share something about myself or maybe I ask you a question or who knows what I do with that, and then who knows what you do with that? So after 10 minutes, then I stop them and I say, okay, so take a moment and recognize that you just had a bunch of choices that you actually probably never even think about. You had a choice whether you began by sharing something or you waited for the other person to be in. You had a choice whether you began with a question, which was a nice, safe place to be, or whether you began with a disclosure.
Then you had choices with regard to how you responded to what your partner did. And the whole course is about having interactions and then having the guidance and the space and the time and the focus to unpack what just happened. So now do you want to have a more conversation with this person or less? Are you intrigued or are you like, “Can I just get paired up with somebody else?” But now we get to talk about it. And then I put them into a second conversation and I say, okay, now having learned that, by the way, one of the ways we build relationships is through disclosure, through allowing ourselves to become more known. So that’s a little mini lecture. And then I say, okay, now go back into your pair and see whether or not you want to make some new choices.
And then of course, that’s all I always say, confidentiality is a very important aspect of all this work. So in the pair conversations, in the group conversations, I call them the Vegas Rule. What happens if Vegas stays in Vegas. And so I don’t ask for any specifics, but I’ll ask them for, was there a qualitative difference between the first and second conversation? And they inevitably say, “Oh my God. The first conversation is the conversation I have in the bar all the time with somebody.” And the second conversation was a little more uncomfortable, but I sure feel a lot more known, and I think I know my partner a little bit more and now they’ve had a little taste of what it’s going to be like.
People Can Change
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing example. So what I want to do with the rest of our chat is basically go through many of the lessons and insights and lectures that you give in this course. Obviously, they’re not going to be able to practice the way they would practice in a class. But before we get in there, let’s actually talk about, so there’s this course at Stanford, and you also now have a program called Leaders in Tech where anyone can participate. They don’t have to be going to Stanford Business School. Talk about what this is and how people can participate if they want to go deeper on the stuff we’re going to talk about.
Repair: When Things Go Wrong
Carole Robin: So Leaders in Tech is a nonprofit that two of my co-founders and I started, I guess in January of 2018. We started it with a program called The Fellows Program, which is a 10-month program that starts with a four-day retreat that’s like Touchy Feely on steroids because Touchy Feely is a quarter long class, and then it continues on a monthly basis for a day or half a day a month to get the rest of what we might call Carole Robin curriculum because I also taught a course called High Performance Leadership. I also called Taught Leadership Coaching and Mentoring. So there were other things besides Touchy Feely. Then what happened was that our fellows who went through our first couple of cohorts said, because the Fellows Program is open to founders, either current or previous founders or co-founders of a company that has not gone public.
And what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to influence the cultures of the future of Facebook’s and Google’s of the world, not the current ones. And so that program has a more limited number of people that can apply to it. However, one of the things that happened was we got a lot of people who said, but I’m not a founder and I still want that. And we also had fellows who went through the program that said, what about my people, my chief people officer, my VP of engineering? So then we’d started just a four-day version of the Touchy Feely, which anybody could apply to. I mean, actually not anybody. You do have to be a manager of some kind, and you do have to be in tech for now.
So that’s where people get the real on the ground experience. They all get a copy of the book, and of course, if you don’t want to go through the program or it’s not the right time or you want to start somewhere else, you can start with the book. But if you just buy the book and you read it and you put it back on your shelf, you’re not going to learn anything. Don’t waste your money. If you’re going to buy the book, buy at least one other copy and give it to somebody with whom you actually want to develop a stronger relationship and read it together and do the activities at the end of every book, and then you start to get a taste of what it’s like to go through the course.
In-Class Exercises & Practice
Lenny Rachitsky: So just to close the loop there, how do people learn more and apply and join this program?
Carole Robin: Www.leadersintech.org.
Advice Can Harm Relationships
Lenny Rachitsky: Awesome. And around the time this episode comes out, there’s a deadline roughly around that time?
Carole Robin: There is. Around when this episode comes out. So we do these four-day retreats all year, so there’s no deadline to apply for that, but if you’re interested in the ten-month program that starts with the four-day retreat and then has all that additional stuff, then deadline for that is May one. Actually, it might even how many days? It might be April. I don’t remember how many days there are in April, but it’s either the last day of April or May one.
The Monkey Rule
Lenny Rachitsky: April 30th.
Carole Robin: Yeah, there you go. So it’s probably April 30th. So check it out. You have to be nominated in order to apply. Don’t let that stop you. If you look at it all and you decide you want to apply, just apply and say, Carole, I listened to Carole Robin on this podcast, you told me to apply.
Does This Apply to Friendships?
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay, great.
Carole Robin: Don’t waste time trying to find somebody to nominate you.
The Failure Corner: AFOG
Lenny Rachitsky: How amazing. Okay. Or you’re going to be flooded with applications.
Carole Robin: Again, from your mouth to God’s ears.
Six Traits of Exceptional Relationships
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay, so let’s get into a lot of the stuff that you teach. So you mentioned progressive disclosure, so that might be a good place to start. What’s the lesson there? What is it that people get wrong? Why is that important?
Carole Robin: So first of all, when we disclose, we make ourselves more vulnerable, and vulnerability and disclosure tend to be reciprocal. If I hold my cards really close, you’re going to hold your cards even closer. So one of the things to learn to do is to experiment. And what works with one person isn’t going to work without somebody else necessarily because every relationship is its own fabulously interesting and always unfolding dynamic is to experiment with allowing myself to be a little bit more known, and then seeing what happens and whether or not you reciprocate. Now, a really important concept we teach that you and I have talked about before is called the 15% rule. And what that is that we all have a comfort zone. Imagine a circle in the middle called the comfort zone, this picture’s in the book, and that we don’t think twice about what we say, and then there is a danger zone, which is a circle way on the outside.
So these are concentric circles if you’re not watching the video, and I never in a million years say that or tell you that, but there’s this really important circle in the middle, which is called the learning zone. In academia, they have to have fancy words for very easy concepts, it’s called the zone of proximal development. But basically it means that’s where you learn. And you have to step outside your comfort zone in order to learn anything, and especially in order to create a deeper connection with somebody. However, my students used to say, “But Carole, the minute I step outside my comfort zone, how do I know I’m not in my danger zone?” I hear this learning zone, but how do I know I didn’t go too far? So we came up with the 15% rule. So step a little bit outside your comfort zone. If you step a little bit outside your comfort zone, you’re very unlikely to freak yourself or the other person out.
But you’ll know, you’ll feel it a little bit, you’ll be like, okay, I feel just a little uncomfortable saying this, but I think I’m going to try. And then depending on how you respond, then we settle into a new comfort zone, a slightly larger circle, which is our comfort zone with each other. Then we can go 15% beyond that, and that’s how we learn and grow and deepen our relationship. The same thing by the way applies to feedback when we get into that later. So we have to step outside our comfort zone in order to deepen and strengthen relationships.
Key Themes & Takeaways
Lenny Rachitsky: What are some examples of stepping outside your comfort zone, disclosing what is it that you find people maybe aren’t disclosing enough of or areas they should disclose? Is it challenges they’re having in their life?
Carole Robin: Well, of course, context matters. It depends on who I’m talking to. And by the way, disclosure, I want to underscore a concept that we also very much teach, which is appropriate disclosure. If I’m the VP of marketing and I get up in front of the troops and I say, “Well, third month in a row we’ve lost share and I have no idea what’s happening or why or what to do about it, and I’m feeling pretty crappy about myself, I’m not even sure I should be your VP of marketing.” That might be vulnerable and disclosure, but it is not appropriate Vulnerability and that it’s not what we’re talking about. The flip side of that is that I get up in front of the troops and I pretend nothing is happening. That doesn’t build my credibility either. So I can get up and say, okay, probably no secret to most of you, that’s the third month in a row, we’ve lost share.
And man, I wish I could stand up here and tell you I know exactly what’s happening and I know exactly what we should do about it, but I don’t, and I have never needed you all more. Now, who would you rather follow? So I think in business, and for a very long time, leaders were socialized to, first of all, leave all feelings in the parking lot. I’ve got an anecdote I often tell about my very first job, which I’m happy to tell you if you want. And there’s no place for vulnerability or for sharing feelings. Are you kidding, feelings in the workplace? Now, I ask you, how do you inspire anybody with no feelings? How do you motivate anybody with no feelings? How do you become seen as a real person with no feelings? Why should somebody who is a robot who is robotic follow you? And the answer to that sometimes in the valley especially is because they’re going to follow you for a while because you’ve got a really great idea. And the minute they’ve got another choice, man, they are out of there.
Living with Long COVID
Lenny Rachitsky: And so a lot of this connects to this broad piece of advice you always give people is just and focus on vulnerability. You spend a lot of time teaching people just the power vulnerability, which is not intuitive. A lot of people try to move away from showing vulnerability. There’s this quote I saw somewhere that “A willingness to be vulnerable makes you not less influential as a leader.” Can you just talk about why that is?
Carole Robin: Yeah, you asked me whether or not I held any contrarian views and I said, yeah, that’s one of them. I actually think that a leader who is willing to be appropriately vulnerable is a stronger leader. And so I’ll give you this short example of what happened to me because it encompasses a lot of what we’ve been talking about. So in 1975, I went to work for the largest industrial automation company in the world as the first woman in a non-clerical job. I was a sales engineer, and yes, I am old, but the dinosaurs were not roaming the earth. And the first thing I learned was you leave feelings in the parking lot, whatever you do, you never talk about your feelings or express feelings in the workplace. It’s unprofessional. I was like, okay. I got pretty good at it. In fact, I got very good at it.
Ironic, given that I eventually became known as the queen of putty-feely at Stanford. But at the time, I got very good at it. I’m not a career academic. I’ve had six different careers. And 10 years later I’m at an off-site and I’ve been promoted many times, I’m now running a $50 million region. I’ve got a half a dozen guys that work for me. And yes, ladies, if you’re listening, I did finally fix that, but at that point, I still hadn’t quite fixed it. And we’re sitting there and I had an idea, it doesn’t matter what it was, but I got a little excited about it and I got crickets and I got a little more excited and I got crickets. I was like, “Come on you guys, this could be really cool. Why can’t you see how cool this could be?” And one of my guys leans in, looks at me and says, “Carole, is that like water in the corner of your eye? Oh my God, are you going to cry?” And then he says, “Are you human after all?”
Are you human after all? And then I burst out crying and I tore up our agenda and I said, “You don’t think I’m human?” I don’t think there is anything more important for us to spend our off-site talking about than that. And we spent the next two days talking about who we were, why we were there, what we wanted, what was important to us, how we could help each other. To this day, I believe that was the day I became a leader. To this day I know for a fact any of them would follow me anywhere.
Lenny Rachitsky: To help people build this muscle and start to practice this to try 15% disclosure, try to be a little more vulnerable. Is there any other examples or just tidbits you can share of like, here’s something you should start doing more and more?
Carole Robin: Let’s start with you can start admitting mistakes, especially when everybody knows you made one, you actually lose a lot more credibility by ignoring it. And you can start again 15% by experimenting with sharing what’s going on for you, particularly with regard to feelings a little bit more often. So there’s a recent course is called Touchy-Feely emphasis on the feely and not the touchy. And that’s because so much of our ability to develop this competence comes down to the appropriate use of feelings. That’s why a vocabulary of feelings, how sad is it? We had to develop a vocabulary feelings because that’s how hard it is for people to even access what they’re feeling. So there’s a vocabulary feelings in the syllabus, in the course, in the appendix of the book. Every member, every person who ever goes through a leaders in tech program gets it. And it starts with allowing yourself to be known, not just in terms of facts and… Feelings give meaning to facts.
Let me give you another example. If I tell you I went ziplining, well, that’s interesting. Maybe you learned something about me. Maybe you start to make up all sorts of interesting stories about me. But if I tell you I went ziplining and I was terrified, but I went because I felt coerced by my family and I didn’t want to be left alone back and then miss out. Well, you learned a lot more about me, didn’t you? One of my most satisfying moments at the very first Leaders in Tech retreat we ever did was of a former student of mine who had taken Touchy Feely 15 years before, and who said, based on everything I learned 15 years ago from Carole, I couldn’t imagine what I would learn if I came back. So I’m back. And he said, but Carole or no Carole, I will not sit around for four days talking about how we’re all crushing it. I will leave.
I was like, “Oh,” I was so proud. And now there are times when a leader does have to stand up and say, yeah, we’re crushing it. So another really, really important thing that people don’t understand is that all of this is very nuanced and very context dependent, and most people unanswered Tell me what to do when X happens. Well, did X happen with this person or this person? What relationship do you have with them in the first place? Are there 20 people in the room of 250? Is this being recorded? There’s just so many different things. Who’s going to have access to it? There’s so many things that you have to consider, and especially today, I know I’m old and this will sound predictable, but I am not a social media fan. I think it has done more to destroy strong relationships and to destroy people’s ability to even learn or think about what it takes to have a great relationship.
Anyway, we could do a whole podcast on that. I have a former Leaders in Tech fellow who sent me this fantastic, here’s another great example, sent me an email and maybe he called me, I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter. He said, “So I had my all-hands meetings are every Monday morning, on Friday, I found out we had missed a major deadline on a product release, and I spent the entire weekend just furious, pissed off, wanting to fire a lot of them,” and he said, “And then on Sunday afternoon, I remembered part of what you taught us was that anger is often a secondary emotion and often under anger is either fear or hurt. And then I realized, oh yeah, I’m actually feeling pretty scared here, that nobody is as worried about this as I am.”
And so he said, “So on Monday morning, instead of getting up and blasting them all as I was prepared to do, I got up and I said, so, gang, I am deeply worried and afraid that I’m the only person here who is as concerned about this missed deadline as I am and what it’s going to mean to our customers.” And he said, “I have never had my troops rally to fix something faster.” So appropriate use of feelings is something most people don’t know how to do. They don’t even know how to access the feeling. I told this particular anecdote about anger being a secondary emotion at a very big workshop a number of months ago, and a woman walked up to me and said, “Wow, thank you so much. I’ve never understood that my husband Carries so much fear and so much hurt because he only ever leads with anger. It never even occurred to me something else might be going on.” And anger is a distancing emotion, whereas hurt, fear, sadness, loneliness, happiness, joy are all connecting emotions. So those are kinds of things people learn when they come through our programs.
Lenny Rachitsky: Oh, man, you’re blowing my mind already. I can see why marriages are saved by a lot of these things you teach. That’s a really profound point you’re just making there that anger is a secondary emotion. Really what’s going on is you’re afraid or you’re hurt. Is there anything more you can add there because this feels very important?
Carole Robin: That is normally what’s going on, except we’ve all been socialized not to be vulnerable, especially in business and naming any of those other things makes us feel vulnerable. So somehow being angry doesn’t make us feel vulnerable. That’s the okay emotion, as long as you express it in an appropriate way, but it’s a distancing emotion. What a disservice to everybody in business. What a disservice to professional learning, to not help people understand that anger is a distancing emotion and that there are other emotions that are appropriate and that are connecting.
Lenny Rachitsky: This connects so beautifully to your first point we talked about of being vulnerable and disclosing more and how I completely see how if you were just to share, I’m afraid of this, how that brings people closer to you and feels like they will trust you more versus you not sharing that.
Carole Robin: Right. It connects to something else. You and I talked about one of the biggest gifts I think people get out of taking Touchy Feely or going through the Leaders in Tech program or even reading the book is that they learn that they hold some mental models, some beliefs and assumptions. If I do this, that will happen, or if I don’t do this, this will happen. And those are beliefs and assumptions that we develop very early in our careers like I did. Whatever you do, you leave your feelings in the parking lot. And it served me really well initially. If I’d burst out crying two months into the job, I’d have never ended up running a $50 million region and then it over served me, and then it cost me because I never had a reason to update it.
Because I never realized I was paying a cost for continuing to hold that belief that drove my behaviors. And mental models, then we developed them very early and they’re grooved and we need new experiences in order to even believe that they’re maybe subject to testing. Gee, I will forever be grateful to this fellow who said, “Oh my God, are you human after all?” I was like, how did this ever happen that I became seen as not human? Again, we go back to some of the stuff we talked about earlier, which is that leaders, if a leader doesn’t show up with a willingness to update their mental models and their beliefs, they’re certainly not going to inspire anybody else to do that.
Lenny Rachitsky: I’m glad you got here because this is exactly where I was going to go next, is this mental model challenge we run into where we develop these mental models early on and then they end up hurting us later in life. Are there common mental models people have that hurt them as they grow? Or is it very particular independent on people’s experience?
Carole Robin: I mean, there are some that are pretty tried and true. I mean, the first one is, if I tell you more about me, you’ll take advantage of me. Or if I am vulnerable with you or disclosing, you’ll think I’m weak. And inevitably, somebody has had a time in their life where that has been true, and maybe it was true a lot, but then they decide that’s the only outcome that’s ever possible as opposed to part of growing up and becoming more mature is differentiating and being more discretionary in who we open up to and how we open up to them. It’s like I have a colleague who often says, we have to think about these things as dials, not switches. It’s not an all or I don’t tell you everything or nothing. I don’t share every single feeling I’ve got or none. It’s a dial and you move it at 15% rate.
Another mental model people hold, and this becomes a huge learning for people who go through our programs, is people think if I give you feedback, it’s going to ruin the relationship. It’s going to weaken the relationship. Whoa, that’s really common. Even though everybody’s always wanting, I want more feedback, I want to know how it can be better, but everybody believes that giving feedback is going to create a problem. And that’s because most people have in fact been on the receiving end of feedback poorly given or they’ve given feedback in a not very good way. They’ve stepped in piles of doodoo, yes. And it does not mean feedback ruins relationships. It means feedback the way you’ve always seen it done or done. It ruins relationships pretty important. And then one of the things that we arm people with, I think one of the most powerful pieces of learning that people get is learning how to give feedback in a way that is going to build relationships as opposed to, and it’s going to build a relationship.
If you see that my reason for wanting to give it to you is that I’m invested in you and in us it’s similarly, we hold mental models about expressing what we call pinches, which are just those little things that people do. Then we’re just like, eh, I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I’m not going to say anything, but mental model is, eh, it’s a small thing. The problem is, if I’m doing something that’s mildly irritating and you don’t tell me, then what am I going to do?
Lenny Rachitsky: You’re doing it.
Carole Robin: And then are you going to get less irritated or more irritated?
Lenny Rachitsky: More irritated.
Carole Robin: Yeah. Now, if I get less irritated or it doesn’t change, then you’re right. I shouldn’t say anything. But if I have the wherewithal to notice, this is why we talk about two antenna, which I’ll come back to notice that I’m getting more and more activated, more and more irritated, then it’s really important for me to say something. And by the way, address it while it’s still small and then it won’t get big. That’s why we call it talk about a pinch before it becomes a crunch, and then it becomes a much bigger deal. But most of the time we say it’s not worth it. So I always tell students, okay, substitute the pronoun, substitute the word it for I, you, we. I’m not worth it, you’re not worth it. We’re not worth it. And then ask yourself again whether it’s worth raising.
Lenny Rachitsky:
Carole Robin: Yeah. And in fact, it is fundamental to giving feedback.
Lenny Rachitsky: Well, awesome.
Carole Robin: So they’re very related. You were right on the money. And you know what, let me just take a moment and talk. I mentioned the two antennae, and this is in the book, but we’re all equipped with two antennae. One is tracking what’s going on for me, my internal antenna. The other one is trying to pick up signals on what might be going on for you. And first of all, recognizing those two antennae exist. Second of all, learning how to hone our ability to pick up subtler and subtler signals make us more interpersonally competent. That’s also why I’m a big believer in meditation and awareness. So, anyway, if we now fast-forward to your question about how to give feedback well, which has to do with understanding the three realities. It starts with in any exchange between two people, there are three realities. There is my intent, how I see the world, my background, my history, there is what I do or say or don’t do, verbal or nonverbal.
So my reality is reality number one, my behavior, verbal or nonverbal is reality number two. And whatever happens on your end is reality. Number three, the impact of what I’ve said or done, how you see things, your background. So there’s these three distinct realities. And the trouble we get into when we don’t recognize that those three realities exist is we don’t understand that we are only privy to two out of the three. So I know what’s going on for me, and I know what I did. I have no idea what happened on your end. You know what I did and how it impacted you. So your two are… The only one we share is the one in the middle in common, the behaviors right now, we draw a metaphorical net between reality number one and reality number two to help people understand. And anybody who’s ever taken Touchy Feely in no matter which context knows the saying, “Stay on your side of the net.”
Meaning stick with the two realities you know because we get in trouble the minute we start thinking we know the other person’s reality. Right? So I’ve told this anecdote many times, it might even be in the book, but I come home… I’m sorry, my husband comes home after a very long day in the valley. He was an executive. I’ve got two little kids, infant and a 2-year-old. I’ve been waiting for him to come home. I come running into the front room. In those days, by the way, we still had newspapers. He’s reading the newspaper and I say, “Oh my God. Oh my God, you’re home. I can’t wait until I tell you what happened tonight. I can’t believe what happened. Why are we living in Palo Alto, Jesus Christ? I don’t want to raise kids in Palo Alto. It’s a terrible town. I wish that new nursery school, it hasn’t even opened. It’s already closed. Oh my God.”
And then he says, “mm-hmm, great. “So then I say, you’re not listening. And by the way, people have been taught iMessages, I feel that you’re not listening is exactly the same thing, it doesn’t have a single feeling word in it. I don’t know whether he was listening or not. I’m over the net. I’m in his court unless I’m in his head. I don’t know whether he was listening or not. But then he says, yeah, I was listening. You’re all worked up. You went to that new nursery school. Actually it’s more like this. Yeah, you’re all worked up and you went to that new nursery school hasn’t even opened. You’re all worked up. Now I get a little bit more activated and I say, “How can you not care?” First of all, he didn’t say, I don’t care, did he? I don’t know whether he cares or not. And by the way, “How can you be so insensitive?”
And I feel that you don’t care and I feel you’re being insensitive are not feelings. They’re attributions and imputed motives, and that’s where we make our biggest mistakes when it comes to feedback. And what that does is it makes the other person defensive. So calling my husband insensitive is the most insensitive thing in the world because he’s one of the most sensitive people on the planet. So it wasn’t until I learned to stay on my side of the net and say, so when I speak and I’m all worked up about something and the only thing I get back from you are either a grunt or an affectless repetition of what I just said, that’s reality number two, anybody watching the video would say, that’s what happened, I don’t feel heard. He can’t say, yeah, you do. And when I don’t feel heard, I feel hurt and I feel distanced.
And the reason I’m telling you that is because I can’t be here for you in the way I want to be when I feel that way. So the formula is when you do insert behavior, I feel pull out the vocabulary of feelings and I’m telling you this because, or I’m hoping the outcome of you knowing this is. And so then what happened is he said, “Well, if you want my undivided attention, then you’ve got to give me some time to unwind when I get home.” What a reasonable request. I said, “Well, how much time do you need?” He said, “I don’t know, half an hour.” “I was like, half an hour?” I’ve been counting the minutes. How about five minutes? We settled on 15. And by the way, that is the purpose of feedback. When it’s constructive feedback, move into a problem-solving conversation, don’t change the other person. Move into behaviors that will work better for both of you.
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing. And this structure, so the structure you just shared, and this is similar to nonviolent communication structure?
Carole Robin: Yes.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay, cool.
Carole Robin: It is.
Lenny Rachitsky: So there’s books people can read on this-
Carole Robin: Right. Ours came before, but that’s okay.
Lenny Rachitsky: Oh, wow. Okay. Good to know.
Carole Robin: I will say anything that spreads the word and anything that helps people learn how to engage with each other in ways that build relationship, I’m all for.
Lenny Rachitsky: I love that attitude. Okay, so the structure again is just when you do some behavior, I feel an emotion. By the way, is there a flyer or handout? I think the book has these of just emotions. Okay, cool. And feelings.
Carole Robin: The vocabulary of feelings is an appendix in the book.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay, great.
Carole Robin: As is the formula.
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing. Okay, great. So by the book, if you want to get really good at this stuff, is there anything online we can point people to, or?
Carole Robin: We got a picture of the… I’ll send you a couple of slides.
Lenny Rachitsky: Perfect.
Carole Robin: And then you can just say, here are the slides.
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing. So we’ll link to that in the show notes. And as you talk through all of these lessons and pieces of advice, it makes so much sense why this is something you need to do. Because I imagine what’s happening in the class here is you do this with someone and then you hear the reality and it often surprises you. Right?
Carole Robin: Exactly. Because often we say it takes two to know one, I don’t know what impact I’m having on you until you tell me. And I have to be willing to be a little vulnerable to ask. And if we go back to that first activity that you asked me to describe way at the beginning, then we put them back in pairs and we say, okay, now that you’ve learned a little bit about feedback, tell your partner what they did that made it easier for you to disclose more and be more willing to be more vulnerable and/or what they did that made it a little harder. And right there in the moment, you learned something about yourself that you might never have known. Somebody says, you looked away as I was talking, you might not have even known you did that. You looked at your watch. And I love this.
One of my greatest moments when I was teaching was that I asked a question. I was teaching in a big lecture hall at the law school, and they didn’t have any clocks on the wall. And I asked a question and a student began answering, and I just glanced at my watch just because I was trying to figure out where I was in terms of when I had to wrap up. And he walked up to me after class and he said, “Professor, I felt disrespected when you looked at your watch while I was answering,” I hugged him. Well, first I asked him if it was okay, “Is it okay if I hug you?” And then I hugged him.
Lenny Rachitsky: And I love how so much of this is like, we never get this feedback in real life. No one ever tells us this thing you did is distracting them, annoying them, making them feel like they’re not being heard.
Carole Robin: And then guess what? Then he leaves and then somebody says, how was that? He says, oh, she’s really disrespectful. And then pretty soon nobody’s ever even been there. But my reputation is that I don’t respect students. That’s how stuff gets out of control.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. And you wish people would tell you, right? Everybody wants this, but it’s so hard and uncomfortable to tell anyone negative feedback.
Carole Robin: Which by the way, I never used the word negative when it comes to feedback.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay. Okay.
Carole Robin: So feedback is either constructive or complimentary. Constructive feedback is there’s something you’re doing that is problematic, and the purpose of it is let’s move to a problem solving conversation like with Andy and me. The purpose of complimentary feedback is, wow, that’s the third time you’ve handed in that report early and completely, and you even went above and beyond and did this and this. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that, how lucky I feel that you work for me. And if I’m telling you this, because if there’s ever something that you want that we’re not giving you, I want to make sure you know that I want to talk about it. By the way, same formula. Now compare that to nice job, thanks, right? All feedback is data. So all feedback is positive. More data is always better than less data.
Lenny Rachitsky: I agree. That’s a great lesson there. To maybe make this even more practical for listeners that are maybe working on a product and say they have to give feedback in a product design or to a colleague who did something wrong. Is there an example that you could share of just in the workplace.
Carole Robin: I’m glad you asked that, because first of all, we’re not talking about performance feedback and we’re not necessarily talking about feedback on a task. What we’re talking about is interpersonal feedback. And the reason it’s so important is that if you don’t take care of that, then that other feedback becomes unresolved. When you leave the interpersonal stuff unresolved, then the other feedback doesn’t go well because the real problem is that I’m still pissed off that you never answered my phone call. So now I’m going to make it all about how this feature really is never going to work. Here’s an example. Somebody walks into… A manager or a team leader or whatever, walks into a room meeting, starts a meeting by say, so I want to make sure we hear from everybody. I want to make sure that we have a very full conversation.
I want to talk about X. And now let’s say that I start to say something and before I have finished, he says, yeah, and the other thing we should talk about is blah, blah. And then a little later a similar thing happens. I start to suggest that there’s another way to look at this and he turns back to somebody else, what somebody else had said and never says anything in response to what I just said. And I’m being very specific here, very behaviorally specific. And then after a while, what happens to me is I feel less and less inclined to offer up anything. Now, maybe he doesn’t care, but if he cares because he started by think he wanted to hear from everybody, then I’m not being very caring if I don’t tell him what the impact was of his behavior. So I don’t call him out in the middle of the meeting because I don’t want to embarrass him, but I might go to his office later and say, “So, John, do you have a few minutes?” I have an observation.
I’ve got something that I experienced that you might want to know. “Sure, Carole.” So when I started to say x, you did y. When I started to say z, you did it. I said, and when that you started the meeting by saying you want to hear from everybody. When that happened, I felt less and less… I felt shut down, and I felt less and less inclined to offer up my opinion. Maybe that’s okay, but I wondered whether you knew that that was the impact. And I’m telling you, because as far as I am concerned, in that meeting, you did not accomplish your stated desire. Your desired outcome was to hear from everybody. And after a while, I just gave up trying to give you my…
Lenny Rachitsky: Well, it’s like you need to solve these pinches as you described early, because all of this comes back to these are relationships, they matter because that’s the way we get everything done. And if you just ignore these things, your relationship’s going to be hurt. You’re not going to be able to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. It’s almost like something you need to do even though it feels hard.
Carole Robin: Absolutely. And that’s why I say that feedback builds relationships because by the way, if I’m doing something that I’m, I wish I hadn’t done, it’s not that I’m going to be like, “Oh yeah, I’m so glad I did that.” But if I recognize that it would’ve been easier for you not to say anything because it would’ve been more comfortable, but because you cared about me, you actually said something to me, that talk about something that builds relationship.
Lenny Rachitsky: Coming back to the antenna as you described feels like one of the most important skills you teach people is to build this antenna both of yourself, which is you could to think is easier, but maybe often not, but also understanding how the other person feels. And you have this concept of the art of inquiry and how powerful that is. Can you just talk about what that is?
Carole Robin: Oh, yeah. I’m glad you brought that up, because inquiry is a fundamental component of strong interpersonal relationships for a couple of reasons. And first of all, let’s stop and note, inquiry comes the root of the word inquiry is quest. Quest means to be in search of and not knowing what you’re going to find, not the way most people think about questions and inquiries. Most of the time people ask a question to confirm a hypothesis. “Don’t you think you’re just trying to discredit John by doing that?” That’s not inquiry. “Don’t you think you’d just be better off letting that go?” That’s not inquiry. And by the way, another thing to note in artful inquiry, first of all, you have to suspend judgment. You cannot be curious if you’ve already decided you know what’s going on someone else. You can always go back to being judgmental, but you got to suspend it long enough to see if there’s something for you to learn.
And then the way you ask the question matters, questions that can be answered with yes or no are typically limiting questions and aren’t going to be very productive. Questions that start with why, why did you do that? Are going to make me defensive? Or worse, why are you crying? Well, is that going to make me want to tell you more about why I am upset or why are you upset? Right away I’m going to go into, “Oh no, I’m not upset. It’s not a big deal.” Or I’m going to go into a place that’s not necessarily very productive because this reminds me of how my mother always scolded me. Neither one is going to be very productive. So questions that start with what? What’s this about? What’s going on? Where is this manifesting? When did you see this happen last? How might we go about unpacking what’s going on? Where is this happening most? When, where, how, stay away from why. And it’s a whole art.
Lenny Rachitsky: Something else you teach people and you’re big on is that people can actually change themselves. I think a lot of people might feel like, I’m just not good at this. I’m not good at giving feedback. I’m not good at maybe asking questions. I’m just like, I don’t know. Talk about what you found about the change people see and why it’s actually possible and how.
Carole Robin: Well, for starters, to any of your listeners, one of my very favorite authors is Carol Dweck who wrote a book called Mindset and you put a word yet at the end of any of those, I don’t know how yet, I’m not like that yet, changes the meaning of the whole thing. And by the way, talk about updating a mental model, instant update of a mental model. And the other thing that I’ll say is we are all capable of changing our behavior. We cannot change our personality. We are born wired with personalities. I am very outgoing and extroverted as might come as a shock to all of you. And you know what? When I overdo it, I suck all the oxygen out of the room and one of the behaviors I had to learn, and it takes discipline to engage in was zipping it a little more so that others could speak up more.
And my incentive was that I actually really wanted to learn more about what was going on for them and I wasn’t going to learn anything unless I shut up long enough for them to tell me. So behavior is something we all have control over. Now when I give somebody feedback and they tell me, well, I can’t do that. If I’ve asked them to change a behavior, then I’ll say, I’m sorry, I don’t think I can accept I can’t. I will accept I don’t want to or I don’t have it, but I don’t have to accept I can’t. So I’d just like you to own the fact that it’s a choice that you’re making.
Lenny Rachitsky: Kind of along those lines, something, I don’t know if this is from your book, but I saw somewhere you said that it’s possible to say almost anything to almost anyone if you have the necessary skills. How do people build these skills? I know we talked about a lot of this through the structure focusing on your side of the net, but just how do you avoid people getting defensive?
Carole Robin: First of all, let’s make sure that we point out that what we’re doing here is we’re shifting probabilities of success, we’re not guaranteeing anything. And let’s say that you do your best and you stay on your side of the net and you give somebody feedback and they go bonkers and they call you all kinds of names and they write… Now there’s an opportunity to learn something else that everybody learns in these programs, which is called repair. How do you repair when something goes sideways? Because no matter how good you are, no matter how skilled you get, no matter what your intent was, sometimes it won’t work. And then you’ve got to know how to repair. And that’s why, remember I told you that our facilitators have a unique set of skills? And that’s because they have to allow messes to happen otherwise nobody’s going to learn how to repair. And repair often goes back to some of what we’ve already talked about. Let’s start with I come in the kitchen, my husband’s struggling. I say to him, “Can I help you with that?” He says, “Don’t tell me what to do.”
I’m sure none of your listeners can relate to this story. And I say, instead of, “I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do, I was just trying to be helpful. What a kind of way to respond to my offering help is that?” I say, “What did you hear me say?” One of the most powerful things you can do when somebody responds in a way that feels very unexpected and out of whack with what you just said is go back to, “What did you hear me say?” Because nine times out of 10 what they heard is not what you said. He said, “I heard you say I didn’t know what I was doing.” Now, by the way, it didn’t matter. That’s not what I said. And I didn’t say, that’s not what I said. I said, “Wow, really glad I asked, because now that I understand that that’s what you heard, I understand why you reacted the way you did.” And I said, “Let me try it again.”
One of the ways that I show somebody that I love them is I offer to help and what would you like me to do if in a situation like this when I see you struggling? He says, “Wait for me to ask.” And that was 25 years ago, and that has served us very well because we’ve been married 37 years, 39 years. And if we go back to feedback, you give somebody feedback, they get super defensive. By the way, net jumping invites net jumping, so they’re likely to net jump too. And by the way, the minute you label somebody or you’re over the net. In fact you sent me something that was really interesting that I wanted to find here because you said “Nobody is born with genes for being rude or self-involved.” Well, guess what?
Rude and self-involved are labels that is not behaviorally specific. So calling somebody rude or self-involved is just going to make them defensive. But saying, I was interrupted three times, and I’m telling you this because you said you wanted to hear my opinion and I just thought you should know that I was put off by being interrupted, much less likely to incite defensiveness.
Lenny Rachitsky: Absolutely. Just hearing what actually happened, staying on your side of the net.
Carole Robin: Exactly.
Lenny Rachitsky: So again, this always comes back to I could see this being so effective doing this in a class versus just listening to us and like, okay, I’m going to start staying in my side of the net and I’m going to prepare relationships. Are there any other examples of exercises you do in the class that might be helpful to people just to hear how you learn some of these things?
Carole Robin: Every chapter in the book has a section at the end called Deepen Your Learning and those deep in your learning sections, every single one of them has a suggested activity, something you can go do, and some of those come from some of the things we do in the classroom. So that’s one place to start in terms of trying to find very tactical and practical ways of applying some of this. The other thing that we often do, I often do in leaders in Tech, I used to do this less at Stanford because they did a lot of this in their T groups and they were actually in real time with each other putting everything they were learning to use. But sometimes with my execs in Leaders in Tech, I will, for example, put them in a trio and I will say to you, so Lenny, I want you to think of somebody who you would like to give feedback to and I want you to tell me what’s the behavior they’re engaging in?
How does it make you feel? What would be behind you wanting to tell them? What would be your desired outcome to the conversation? Then I become you, you become your difficult person because you know them and I don’t, and we role play because you’ve now told me what you need, what you want, what’s going on for you, and then you have to play your difficult person as well as you can. The third person’s usually the observer who pinch hits and says, “Carole, I think that was over the net.” “Carole, I don’t think that was a behavior.” And by the way, we say, I feel insert feeling, nine times out of 10 people say, I feel that, or I feel like, I feel that you don’t care is not a feeling.
I feel like it doesn’t matter, is not a feeling. I feel that you’re not committed is not a feeling. In fact, they’re all over the net. You’re almost guaranteed to be over the net when you start I feel and put in like or that, guaranteed. Very easy hack. I feel pull up vocabulary feeling, you can’t say grammatically correctly. I feel that sad or I feel that angry, or I feel that irritated or I feel like disappointed, doesn’t work.
Lenny Rachitsky: This is amazing marriage advice going to, I need to remember these things.
Carole Robin: Yeah. Many married couples have bought the book together and read it together actually, which is cool.
Lenny Rachitsky: There’s a few other things I want to touch on that I love. One is a tip that you share. You call it advise hinders relationships.
Carole Robin: Oh, I’m really glad you asked me about that because two things, a couple of things. First of all, leaders often believe this is another mental model that they have to have all the answers, and that is actually a pretty, it’s not a very productive mental model or belief because first of all, puts a huge amount of pressure on the leader. Now suddenly I always have to know and what happens when I don’t know. Second of all, I believe a leader’s job is to ensure the best answer is found. It doesn’t matter whether it comes from me or anywhere else in the organization. It also allows for the possibility that somebody else may have a better answer than me. And a really, really good solution has been squelched and never surfaced because people are afraid to say, well, I see it a little differently. What if we did this?
We had a or disaster as a result of that. The other thing about advice is that it creates even bigger power differentials between people. So if you’re the leader or you’re in the higher power position to start with, then giving me advice is only going to make me feel even lower power as opposed to, well, let’s think about this together. Let’s be thought partners. Often when we give advice, it’s a good thing to stop yourself and ask yourself, “Who am I doing this for? Am I doing this for me so that I can puff myself up with everything I know or am I doing it for you because this is really going to help you and make you better?”
Nine times out of 10, being a thought partner as you explore the various options and coming to your own solution is both going to help you develop more, and then you’re not going to have to come ask me again if the only time you ever learn is when you come ask me and you don’t go through any of the work or figuring out how I got to that answer, well, then I’ve just made more work for myself.
Lenny Rachitsky: There’s this great Harvard Business Review post I just read about monkeys on your back. Have you heard of this?
Carole Robin: Yes.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. Where basically as a manager, people are always trying to put monkeys on your back to have you solve their problem, and your job as a manager is to keep the monkeys on their own backs and help them.
Carole Robin: Yes, and I’m glad you brought that up because people then have become so used to the quick shortcut is you’ll just give me the answer. First of all, you have enabled powerlessness. You certainly haven’t helped them learn and grow. If you at all think your job as a manager is to at least sometimes do that, and sometimes people will say, “Can’t you just give me the answer?” And then I always just say, I could and here’s why I’m not going to because I don’t think that’ll serve you because that’s not my job. My job isn’t just to give you the answers. My job is to turn you into somebody who eventually will just know what the right answer is.
Lenny Rachitsky: But just give me the answer. Does this apply to friendships also? I know often people come to you as a friend, I need some advice on this. Does this apply as well? Often try not to give advice, or is it a different dynamic there?
Carole Robin: Well, some of the same power differential can happen. I think chapter four in the book is about two guys who were good friends and one of them is always trying to give advice to the other one. First of all, it can be annoying if you didn’t ask for it. So I certainly wouldn’t give advice unless somebody asked for it, and I might not immediately jump to the advice, I might want to explore. What have you already thought about? How have you already approached it? Where are you stuck? I might ask more questions before I immediately go into advice because by the way, nine times out of 10, you end up giving advice on something that’s not really what the person was worried about or wondering about. So first go to inquiry. You can always come back to advice.
Lenny Rachitsky: I find that every time I try to resist or I make myself resist giving advice and instead ask more questions, every single time, I realized, okay, I had no idea what they were actually looking for or what was going on, but it’s hard to do. I’m just like, here, I just want to tell you, here’s the thing.
Carole Robin: Totally. Because you know what? It’s another mental model. I serve you best by just giving you advice when you ask for it, that’s the loving, caring thing to do. Well, it’s a mental model. Try testing it and seeing whether or not it really turns out to still be valid.
Lenny Rachitsky: And so maybe the more correct mental model is how would you describe it that it’s often better to help the person figure it out, or is it that you just often don’t actually understand what’s going on?
Carole Robin: The best thing to do first go to inquiry. Because by the way, I also, as you might imagine, I tend to err very much on the side of transparency, and so I’ll say, man, I got all kinds of things going on in my head about what I think would be great for you to do, and I’m going to resist that because I, first of all may or may not hit the mark, so I’d really like to understand more. And second of all, I wonder if in the end be even more fruitful if we explore different things together.
Lenny Rachitsky: Just a few more questions. One is, so we have this segment on the podcast that I call Failure Corner, where people share failure in their career and what they learn from it, and you have a really constructive way of thinking about failure with this great acronym. Can you talk about that?
Carole Robin: The acronym is A-F-O-G, another F-ing… I don’t know your audience well enough. Don’t want to offend anybody.
Lenny Rachitsky: Go for it. If you feel like-
Carole Robin: Another Fucking Opportunity for Growth. Every student who ever took a class from me, every client who I have ever coached, every participant who’s ever gone through Leaders in Tech knows that acronym because my question, when something has gone wrong or a person has experienced a failure, my first question is always, so what did you learn? Because there’s always a lesson, and then usually what follows is, yeah, you just had an AFOG. And as a person who’s had a lot of AFOGs throughout my life, it puts it in perspective. I like the perspective that it offers, so it’s not the end of the world. Sometimes AFOGs are more painful than others. Some AFOGs take longer to recover from than others. Most of the time they’re recoverable, particularly if I’ve invested the energy in really unpacking what there was for me to be to learn.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. So the advice here is when something goes wrong, when you fail, think of it as another fucking opportunity for growth, AFOG.
Carole Robin: Exactly.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay.
Carole Robin: That’s exactly right.
Lenny Rachitsky: To even go full circle to where we started building exceptional relationships, building robust relationships. In the book, you have this checklist of just how to build an exceptional relationship. I know you don’t have all this in your head, whatever.
Carole Robin: Actually I probably do.
Lenny Rachitsky: You probably do. What’s on this list of just things you can do to build exceptional relationships?
Carole Robin: Well, you can go back to the fact that there are six characteristics of exceptional relationships, and actually those are the characteristics that are present as a relationship is moving down this continuum that we’ve talked about. And the more each of these exists, the farther down the continuum you are. So the first one is I’m better known by you, and of course there’s skills involved in how do I allow myself to be known. The second one is, I know you better and there’s skills involved in getting to know you better. We’ve talked about many of them. The third one is we trust that our disclosures won’t be used against us. The fourth one is we can be honest with each other. That’s where all the feedback comes in. The fifth one is we know how to resolve conflict productively, and the sixth one is we are committed to each other’s learning and growth. And when all six of those are present to varying degrees, you’ve moved farther down the continuum.
Lenny Rachitsky: You wrote somewhere that you know your relationship has become exceptional when you and the other person don’t have to hide important parts of yourself and can deal with major issues even if it feels scary.
Carole Robin: Yep. I did write that somewhere and I stand by that.
Lenny Rachitsky: If you zoom out from all of your work and teachings, are there any overarching themes that continue to come up that you think are important for people to take away from this conversation?
Carole Robin: Well, for starters, we’re all works in progress, which means every relationship in your life is a work in progress. Because if I’m a work in progress and you’re a work in progress, then by default so is our relationship. And so remembering that what worked with you two years ago may or may not work for you now because we’re different people. So I think that’s a biggie. I think stopping and becoming aware of what are the mental models that are driving these choices that I’m making, every behavior has in front of it a choice. If we stop long enough to become aware of it and in front of every choice, there’s some belief. So I try to march myself back from the result to the behavior, to the choice, to the mental model that drove it or the skill or lack of skill.
Lenny Rachitsky: Something that we didn’t talk about at the beginning of this because it might distract people, but you’ve been dealing with Long COVID for almost two years at this point. Where are you at with it? How are things going and is there anything you’ve learned from this unexpected part of your life?
Carole Robin: It’s given me an opportunity to live a lot of what I teach. So I always taught in my leadership classes that the worst thing a leader can do is make an organization too dependent on them. If you care about building a sustainable long-term organization and a legacy, then it behooves you not to make the organization very dependent on you. So over the last 20 months, I have slowly and surely given more and more of my responsibilities to more and more members of the team to the point where hot off the press, I’m about to become only an advisor and step out of really all of my operational duties probably by the end of this year. Now, there was a point at which I was like, and oh my God, what happens if I get better suddenly? Because people do get better, and one of my very wise children said, “Mom, I’m pretty sure that if you suddenly get a lot better, they’ll be happy to give you lots of stuff to do.” So, anyway, that’s one of probably the biggest lessons, and also it goes with a lesson around acceptance and accept.
I wrote a LinkedIn, I think a LinkedIn, not a blog paper, one of those LinkedIn things. If you go to my website, you can look at things I’ve written, I think it was called Long COVID and Acceptance or something like that. But it’s about how acceptance is not resignation, and it’s about having an opportunity to rethink a lot of things and reframe beliefs. And I think the last thing I’ll say about it is that it has made me a much more empathetic person, and I think one of the really interesting and important things to learn and have always continued to learn in doing the interpersonal dynamics work we do is you never know what’s going on for someone else.
And one of the worst things we can do is assume we know what’s going on for someone else, and it’s really easy to get really… I think I said this before we even got online, which is in the absence of data, people make shit up. So if you don’t want people to make shit up about you, you’re better off disclosing more because then you’ll have more control over your self-definition, not less. People like to make sense of things. They will connect dots however way they want to unless you help them connect them the way you want them to. Another case for self-disclosure.
Lenny Rachitsky: Well, Carole, I’m incredibly thankful that you made time for this. I know it’s not the easiest thing to do these things.
Carole Robin: Thank you.
Lenny Rachitsky: To remind people where to find Leaders in Tech and how to apply, tell them the website and who it’s for specifically, so the right people go there. And then finally, just how can listeners be useful to you as a final question?
Carole Robin: I’m on LinkedIn. You won’t be able to just connect with me. I’ve got one of those things where you can’t just connect. You need my email address so you can put my email address in the notes. Anybody’s more than welcome… But if you connect with me, please don’t try to sell me anything. The only reason it’s set up that way is that too many people were trying to sell me too many things and I got exasperated. That’s the only reason they wanted to connect. So I’m just going to trust that you’ll reach out to me because you want to connect with me because you’re interested in my work and that you’ll also know and be sensitive to the fact that I have Long COVID. So my capacity to respond to messages and emails is definitely impacted. I used to be one of those you could count on me to always respond. By the way, another learning. It turns out everybody didn’t write me off just because I couldn’t respond to them right away.
Lenny Rachitsky: That is a really great learning. Okay. And then the website for people that may want to apply and the applications are still open basically by the time this is leadersintech.org?
Carole Robin: Right.
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing. Carole, you are wonderful. Thank you so much for making time for this. Thank you for being here.
Carole Robin: Thank you.
Lenny Rachitsky: Bye everyone. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this valuable, you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Also, please consider giving us a rating or leaving a review as that really helps other listeners find the podcast. You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com. See you in the next episode.
Glossary
| English | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 15% rule | 15% 法则 |
| antenna | 天线(指对自身和他人情绪状态的感知能力) |
| appropriate disclosure | 恰当地表露 |
| appropriate vulnerability | 恰当的脆弱 |
| art of inquiry | 探询的艺术 |
| Carol Dweck | Carol Dweck(心理学家,保留原文) |
| comfort zone | 舒适区 |
| connecting emotion | 连接型情绪 |
| crunch | 大冲突(pinch 演变升级后的严重冲突) |
| danger zone | 危险区 |
| David Bradford | David Bradford(合著者,保留原文) |
| distancing emotion | 疏离型情绪 |
| exceptional | 卓越 |
| Fellows Program | Fellows Program(保留原文) |
| I-message | 我信息(一种以”我”为主语表达感受的沟通方式) |
| Interpersonal Dynamics | 人际动力学 |
| Leaders in Tech | Leaders in Tech(保留原文) |
| mental model | 心智模型 |
| Mindset | 《Mindset》(书名,保留原文) |
| net | 网(隐喻模型中区分三种现实的概念框架) |
| net jumping | 跳到网的对方(指越过网的己方结构,对他人的意图或感受做出假设) |
| over the net | 越过网(同 net jumping,指在反馈或沟通中超越了网己方的界限) |
| pinch | 小摩擦(指人际交往中那些微小的、容易被忽视的摩擦点) |
| power differential | 权力落差 |
| progressive disclosure | 渐进式表露 |
| referent figure | 参照人物 |
| referent power | 参照权力 |
| repair | 修复 |
| secondary emotion | 次生情绪 |
| T group | T 小组 |
| thought partner | 思考伙伴 |
| three realities | 三种现实 |
| Touchy Feely | Touchy Feely(斯坦福大学”人际动力学”课程的昵称,保留原文) |
| zipping it | 闭嘴(比喻控制自己不过度发言的行为) |
| zone of proximal development | 最近发展区 |
Reformatted by reformat_english.py
如何建立更深层、更稳固的关系 | Carole Robin(斯坦福教授,“Touchy Feely”)
文字记录
Lenny Rachitsky: 很多人跟你说,你在斯坦福的课让他们觉得整个大学的学费都值了。
Carole Robin: 对我来说更有意义的,是那些说”我很确定你的课刚刚拯救了我的婚姻”的人。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我想聊聊如何有效地给予反馈。
Carole Robin: “我觉得你不在乎”和”我觉得你很冷漠”并不是感受,而我们在反馈时犯的最大错误恰恰就在这里。
Lenny Rachitsky: 如何避免让人产生防御心理?
Carole Robin: 以”什么""何时""哪里""如何”开头提问。远离”为什么”。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我觉得聊聊你所说的”三种现实”(three realities)这个概念可能会有帮助。
Carole Robin: 我们没有意识到,三种现实中我们只能了解其中两种——我知道自己的状态,我知道我做了什么。但你的那边发生了什么,我一无所知。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这个观点非常深刻——愤怒是一种次生情绪。真正在发生的是你害怕了,或者你受伤了。
Carole Robin: 如果不帮助人们理解愤怒是一种疏远性情绪,还存在其他联结性情绪,那真的是一种失职。
嘉宾介绍
Lenny Rachitsky: 今天的嘉宾是 Carole Robin。二十多年来,Carole 在斯坦福商学院教授那门传奇课程——昵称 Touchy Feely,正式名称为人际动力学(Interpersonal Dynamics)——帮助人们学习如何建立稳固的关系,成为更加高效的领导者。之后她创办了一个名为 Leaders in Tech 的非营利组织,将这些课程带给高科技成长型公司的领导者们。她还写了一本非常有影响力的书《Connect》,浓缩了她数十年教授这门课程的核心洞见和经验。我有很多朋友参加过斯坦福的课程或 Leaders in Tech 项目,每一个人在与人相处、沟通方式和领导力方面都发生了蜕变。在与 Carole 的对话中,我们聊到了为什么我们常常被困在年轻时形成的心理模型中,这些模型如今如何限制我们,限制我们的潜力和我们看待世界的方式。为什么比自己的舒适程度再多披露 15% 会让你成为更高效的领导者?为什么我们周围实际上始终存在三种现实,这个洞见如何改变你与他人相处的方式。我们还讨论了如何就任何事情向任何人给出反馈,为什么脆弱性对卓越领导力如此关键,如何建立卓越的关系,为什么它们如此重要,以及更多内容。这是一期非常特别、非常独特的节目,我非常兴奋能把它呈现给你。话不多说,我请出 Carole Robin。如果你喜欢这档播客,别忘了在你最喜欢的播客应用或 YouTube 上订阅和关注,这是避免错过未来节目的最好方式,也对播客帮助极大。
课程的深远影响
Lenny Rachitsky: Carole,非常感谢你能来。欢迎来到播客。
Carole Robin: 非常感谢你的邀请,Lenny。很高兴来到这里。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这些年来我听很多人说起你和你的课程对他们的生活产生了多大的影响,既有我的朋友,也有我在推特上分享你要来做播客时留言的人——那么多人评论说:“天哪,那门课和 Carole 以如此多的方式改变了我的人生。“所以我真的很高兴你能来,真的很荣幸能请到你。
Carole Robin: 谢谢你。
卓越关系的意义
Lenny Rachitsky: 我想先从我们为这期播客做准备时你跟我分享的一句话开始。你告诉我:“我被放到这个星球上,是为了帮助人们认识到,建立和发展稳固、有意义的关系是可以通过学习掌握的。“什么是稳固、有意义的关系?为什么它们对你很重要?为什么对人们很重要?
Carole Robin: 我认为,大多数人如果拥有至少一些高质量的关系,就能体验到更丰富、更充实、更有意义的生活——或者反过来说,如果你一个都没有,你不太可能体验到同样丰富充实的生活。所以我常说,关系存在于一个连续体上。连续体的一端是”有接触但无联结”,或者我们也可以说是功能失调。顺便说一句,“有接触但无联结”——那成千上万的 Facebook 好友就是这种情况。在我的词汇里,那些不叫关系,也不叫朋友。连续体的另一端是我和我的合著者 David Bradford 所称的”卓越”(exceptional),卓越关系有一组特定的特征,如果你想了解的话我可以展开谈。但在我展开之前,我们要说的——或者说我自己要说的——并不是建议每个人都需要把每一段关系都变成卓越关系。
Carole Robin: 首先,那不切实际;其次,也没必要。但事实证明,沿着那个连续体移动所需的技能,实际上能让你从”有接触但无联结”以及功能失调,至少达到功能正常和稳健。一旦掌握了这些技能,你就可以决定是否要把其中几段关系推得更远,一直推到卓越。但至少你已经获得了达到功能正常和稳健所需的知识。我相信,如果这个星球上有足够多的人掌握了这些技能,知道如何至少达到稳健和功能正常的水平,我们不仅会拥有更高效的团队和组织,还会有更强的社区、更正常的学校。在我最美好的设想中,我们甚至可能拥有一个更有效的政府。这就是我一生的使命。
Lenny Rachitsky: 希望这期节目能真正做到这一点,帮助人们从——
Carole Robin: 借你吉言。
Lenny Rachitsky: ——给大家更多动力,真正投入进去,认真关注这件事。你看到过哪些从连续体上走得更远、建立更稳健甚至卓越关系的人所带来的实际好处?
卓越关系的实际收益
Carole Robin: 显然,我在斯坦福商学院教了很多很多年的课。顺便说一下,是斯坦福商学院,不是藏在心理学系某个角落里的课。这是因为这门课的前提是:人们做的是和人打交道,不是和想法、产品、机器、战术、策略打交道,甚至不是和钱打交道——人做的是和人打交道的事。所以如果你真的想成功,最好把”人”的部分做好。人际能力是个人和职业成功的决定性因素。所以,回答你的问题——我已经数不清有多少封邮件、多少通电话、多少次拜访了,都是以前的学生来告诉我:“我刚当上了 CEO,我觉得这都归功于你。""我刚完成了第三轮融资,我觉得这都归功于你。""我刚想清楚了我和联合创始人该怎么渡过眼前的困境。感谢你教给我的一切。“这些反馈让我无比满足。我告诉你,更让我感到欣慰的是那些说”我确信你的课救了我的婚姻”的人。“我刚和两年没说话的哥哥和解了——因为他投了 X 的票,我投了 Y 的票。我们不必讨论 X 和 Y 分别是谁。“现在还要谢谢你终于写了一本书,因为我的产品副总裁没上过斯坦福,听不懂我在说什么。至少我给他们买了本书。现在越来越多的人把其他人推荐到 Leaders in Tech——这个我们稍后再聊——这是我从斯坦福离开后创办的非营利组织,目的是让更多人不仅通过一本书来学习这些东西。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太棒了。我觉得我很喜欢的一点是,你还分享过,很多人告诉你,斯坦福商学院 GSB 的那一门课就让他们觉得整个大学学费都值了——仅仅因为那一门课。这太让人意外了,因为这门课叫 Touchy Feely,跟商业本身似乎毫无关系。
Carole Robin: 当然,实际上它跟商业息息相关。
“人际动力学”课程到底是什么
Lenny Rachitsky: 顺着这个话题,你能谈谈这门课的目标是什么,课上到底在做什么吗?再提一下,人们叫这门课 Touchy Feely,我想它正式名称是”人际动力学”(Interpersonal Dynamics)。
Carole Robin: 没错,是的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这门课到底是怎么回事?帮大家了解一下课上都在做什么。
Carole Robin: 首先,这是一门为期一个学季的课程。从根本上说,我们其实已经谈过了课上在做什么——人们学习如何具备更强的人际能力,或者说如何以更有效的方式与他人建立联结。我所说的”联结”是指:学习我需要以怎样的方式出现,才能让你信任我、才能让你感到与我更亲近、才能让你愿意花更多时间和我在一起。顺便说一下,这是我教授的领导力课程的一部分。从领导力的角度看,这会让你更有可能让别人愿意追随你。因为归根结底,领导者应该问自己的问题是:“为什么有人愿意追随我?“你可以研究其他领导者——为什么有人追随史蒂夫·乔布斯?为什么有人追随 Xerox 的 Ursula?为什么有些人追随雪莉·桑德伯格?或者,为什么有人追随我?因为我不是他们中的任何一个。所以我让学生们——现在也让 Leaders in Tech 的参与者们——认真思考这个问题:为什么有人愿意追随你?
人们追随你可能有很多原因。你有一个非常鼓舞人心的愿景。你有一个他们想带到世界上的产品。他们觉得跟着你可能会赚很多钱。这些都是好理由。但如果你想建立一个可持续的长期基业,那你可能需要思考如何以一种让他人把你视为参照人物(referent figure)的方式出现——他们生活中的一个人,让他们说:“等我长大了,我想成为那样的人。“这是一种权力形式,有大量研究支持这一点——参照权力(referent power)。当你成为他人的参照人物时,他们更可能接受你的影响、更愿意付出更多努力、更愿意去做那些你相信能让整个组织变得卓越的事情。
T 小组:体验式学习
Lenny Rachitsky: 这门课非常不同寻常,它不是一堆讲座和演讲,而是有很多体验式环节,你需要做一些相当不舒服的事情才能真正学会这些技能。你能分享一两个你让人们经历的例子吗,能分享多少就分享多少?
Carole Robin: 当然。我想说的是,我们不会通过……我也不是通过读书学会如何与你建立联结的。顺便说一句,这也是为什么我们花了四年时间才写完那本书——因为每一章的结尾都有实践练习,告诉你”你可以用刚才读到的内容去做些什么”。课堂上也一样,讲座只是支撑你体验的脚手架。但大部分学习发生在一种叫做 T 小组(T group)的小组中。T 代表训练(training),不是治疗(therapy)。有时人们觉得它们听起来像治疗,有时甚至感觉有点像治疗,但它们不是治疗。我们叫它们训练小组。小组里有 12 名参与者和 2 名引导者,比如我会让两个学生配对,说,好,你们有 10 分钟。
让另一个人了解你。这是我给出的唯一指令。好,现在你和我面对面看着彼此,心里想,“这到底是什么意思?“然后也许我会分享一些关于自己的事情,或者也许我会问你一个问题,谁知道我会怎么做,然后谁知道你会怎么回应?所以十分钟后,我让他们停下来,说,好,花一点时间想一想,你们刚才实际上做了很多选择,而你们可能从来没有意识到这些选择的存在。你可以选择先分享一些关于自己的事,还是等对方先开口。你可以选择以提问开始——这是一个安全的选择——还是以自我表露开始。
然后,在回应搭档所做的事情时,你也有各种选择。整个课程的核心就是经历互动,然后在引导下,在足够的空间、时间和专注中,去拆解刚才发生了什么。现在你是想和这个人多聊一些,还是少聊一些?你感到好奇,还是心想,“能不能换个搭档?“但现在我们可以讨论这些了。然后我让他们进入第二次对话,说,好,刚才学到了一些东西——顺便说一句,建立关系的方式之一就是通过表露,通过让自己更多地被了解。这是一个小小的讲座。然后我说,好,现在回到你们的搭档那里,看看你们是否想做一些不同的选择。
当然,我总是会强调,保密是所有这些工作中非常重要的一部分。所以在配对对话中、在小组对话中,我称之为”拉斯维加斯法则”——在拉斯维加斯发生的事,就留在拉斯维加斯。所以我不会问具体内容,但我会问他们,第一次对话和第二次对话之间有没有质的区别?他们 invariably 会说,“天哪。第一次对话就是我在酒吧里和人聊的那种话。“第二次对话稍微有点不舒服,但我确实感觉自己被更多地了解了,我觉得我也更了解我的搭档了——这样他们就有了一点对接下来要经历什么的初步体验。
Lenny Rachitsky: 非常好的例子。我想用我们接下来聊天的内容,基本上就是逐一梳理你在这门课中教授的许多课程、洞见和讲义。显然,听众们没法像在课堂上那样去实践。但在我们深入之前,先聊聊——斯坦福有这门课,你现在还有一个叫 Leaders in Tech 的项目,任何人都可以参加,不需要是斯坦福商学院的学生。能讲讲这是什么,以及如果想在我们即将讨论的内容上更进一步,人们如何参与?
Carole Robin: Leaders in Tech 是一个非营利组织,由我和两位联合创始人在 2018 年 1 月创办的。我们最初启动了一个叫 Fellows Program 的项目,为期十个月,以一个四天的静修营开始——它就像是加强版的 Touchy Feely,因为 Touchy Feely 是一个为期一个学季的课程。之后每月继续一天或半天,来完成我其余的课程内容,因为我同时还教过一门叫”高绩效领导力”(High Performance Leadership)的课,还有”领导力辅导与指导”(Leadership Coaching and Mentoring)。所以内容不只是 Touchy Feely。后来发生的事情是,我们最初几期的 fellows 说——因为 Fellows Program 只对创始人开放,要么是现任创始人,要么是曾经的公司创始人或联合创始人,而且公司尚未上市。
我们想要做的是影响未来 Facebook 和 Google 们的文化,而不是现有的那些。所以那个项目能申请的人数更有限。但后来发生的一件事是,很多人来说,我不是创始人,但我也想要这些。同时,参加过项目的 fellows 也说,我的人呢?我的首席人才官、我的工程副总裁呢?所以后来我们又推出了一个四天版的 Touchy Feely,任何人都可以申请。嗯,实际上也不是任何人。你确实需要是某种管理者,而且目前确实需要是在科技行业。
那就是人们获得真正实践体验的地方。他们每人都会拿到一本书。当然,如果你不想参加项目,或者时机不对,或者你想从其他地方开始,你可以从书开始。但如果你只是买了书,读了读,然后放回书架上,你不会学到任何东西。别浪费钱。如果你要买这本书,至少再买一本,送给一个你确实想与之建立更深层关系的人,然后一起读,一起做每章结尾的练习,这样你才能初步体验到这门课的感觉。
Lenny Rachitsky: 那么把这个话题收个尾,人们怎么了解更多信息、怎么申请和加入这个项目?
Carole Robin: www.leadersintech.org。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好的。这期节目上线的时候,大概会有一个截止日期在那个时间附近?
Carole Robin: 有的。就在这期节目上线的时候。我们的四天静修营全年都有,所以那个没有申请截止日期。但如果你对十个月的项目感兴趣——它从四天静修营开始,然后还有所有后续内容——那截止日期是五月一日。实际上,让我想想还有多少天,可能是四月。我不记得四月有多少天了,但要么是四月的最后一天,要么是五月一日。
Lenny Rachitsky: 四月三十号。
Carole Robin: 对,就是这样。所以大概是四月三十号。去看看吧。申请需要有人提名,但别被这个拦住。如果你看了之后决定要申请,直接申请就行,就说,Carole,我听了 Carole Robin 在这个播客上的节目,你让我来申请的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好的,太好了。
Carole Robin: 别浪费时间去找人提名你。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太棒了。不然你要被申请淹没了。
Carole Robin: 借你吉言。
渐进式表露与 15% 法则
Lenny Rachitsky: 好,让我们进入你教授的很多内容。你提到了渐进式表露(progressive disclosure),所以这可能是一个好的起点。这里的课程是什么?人们通常会犯什么错?为什么这很重要?
Carole Robin: 首先,当我们表露时,我们会让自己变得更加脆弱,而脆弱和表露往往是互惠的。如果我把底牌攥得很紧,你会攥得更紧。所以需要学会的一件事就是去尝试。对一个人有效的方式,对另一个人未必有效,因为每一段关系都是其自身独特且不断展开的动态过程——去尝试让自己稍微更多地被了解,然后观察会发生什么,看看你是否会回应。现在,一个我们教的非常重要的概念,你和我之前也谈到过,叫做 15% 法则。它的意思是,我们每个人都有一个舒适区。想象中间有一个圆圈叫舒适区,这个图在书里有——在这个区域里我们说话不会多想,然后外面还有一个危险区,是一个在最外面的圆圈。
15% 法则(续)
Carole Robin: 所以如果你没在看视频的话,这些是同心圆。我这辈子绝对不会那样说那样告诉你,但中间有一个非常重要的圆,叫做学习区。在学术界,他们非得用华丽的词汇来描述非常简单的概念——它叫”最近发展区”(zone of proximal development)。但基本上意思就是,那是你学习的地方。你必须走出舒适区才能学到任何东西,尤其是要与某人建立更深层的联结。然而,我的学生常说:“但是 Carole,我一步迈出舒适区,怎么知道我不是进了危险区?“我听说过学习区,但我怎么知道我没有走得太远?于是我们提出了 15% 法则——稍微迈出你的舒适区一步。如果你只是稍微迈出舒适区,你不太可能让自己或对方崩溃。
但你会有感觉,你会微微感受到,你会觉得,好吧,说这个让我有点不舒服,但我想试试看。然后根据你的回应,我们会稳定在一个新的舒适区,一个稍大一些的圆——这就是我们彼此之间的舒适区。然后我们可以再往前走 15%,这就是我们学习、成长和深化关系的方式。顺便说一句,反馈也是一样的道理,我们之后会谈到的。所以我们必须走出舒适区,才能深化和巩固关系。
Lenny Rachitsky: 走出舒适区有哪些具体的例子?你会表露什么?你觉得人们通常没有充分表露的,或者应该表露的领域是什么?是他们在生活中遇到的困难吗?
Carole Robin: 当然,情境很重要,取决于我在跟谁说话。顺便说一下,关于表露,我想强调一个我们也非常重视的概念——恰当地表露(appropriate disclosure)。如果我是市场副总裁,站在全体团队面前说:“好吧,连续第三个月市场份额下滑,我完全不知道发生了什么、为什么、该怎么办,而且我感觉糟透了,我甚至不确定自己还应不应该当你们的副总裁。“这可能是脆弱的,也是表露,但它不是恰当的脆弱(appropriate vulnerability),那不是我们所说的东西。反面则是,我站在团队面前假装什么都没发生。那同样无法建立我的可信度。所以我可以站起来说——大概对大多数人来说不是什么秘密——我们连续第三个月失去了市场份额。
然后说,天哪,我真希望我能站在这里告诉你们我确切知道发生了什么、知道我们该怎么做,但我不知道,而且我从来没有像现在这样需要你们每一个人。你会追随谁?所以我认为在商业世界里,很长一段时间以来,领导者被社会化地教育——首先,把所有感受留在停车场。我有一个我经常讲的小故事,关于我的第一份工作,如果你愿意听我很乐意告诉你。在那个世界里,没有脆弱和分享感受的容身之地。你在开玩笑吗,感受在职场中?那么我问你,没有感受,你怎么激励任何人?没有感受,你怎么激励任何人?没有感受,你怎么被视为一个真实的人?为什么有人要追随一个机器人般的你?这个问题的答案——尤其在硅谷——有时候是,他们会追随你一段时间,因为你有一个非常棒的点子。而一旦他们有了其他选择,他们立马就走了。
脆弱使领导力更强
Lenny Rachitsky: 所以很多内容都联系到你经常给人们的一条广泛建议——专注于脆弱。你花了大量时间教人们脆弱的力量,这并不直观。很多人试图远离展示脆弱。我曾在某处看到一句话:“愿意展现脆弱并不会让你作为领导者的影响力降低。“你能谈谈这是为什么吗?
Carole Robin: 是的,你之前问我是否有什么非主流观点,我说,这是其中之一。我实际上认为,一个愿意恰当展现脆弱的领导者是更强的领导者。我来给你讲一个我亲身经历的简短例子,因为它涵盖了我们一直在谈的很多东西。1975 年,我去了全球最大的工业自动化公司工作,是那里第一个非文职岗位的女性。我是一名销售工程师,是的,我确实年纪不小了,但恐龙并没有还在地球上漫游。我学到的第一件事就是:把感受留在停车场,无论如何,绝不要在工作中谈论或表达感受,那是不专业的。我当时想,好吧。我后来变得相当擅长这件事。实际上,我变得非常擅长。
讽刺的是,考虑到我后来在斯坦福被称为 Touchy Feely 的女王。但在当时,我确实非常擅长。我不是一个职业学者,我有过六段不同的职业。十年后,我在一次外出团建活动上,我已经被晋升了很多次,当时在管理一个五千万美元的区域,手下有六个人——是的,各位女士,如果你在听的话,我后来确实纠正了这个问题,但那个时候我还没有完全纠正。我们坐在那里,我有一个想法——具体是什么不重要——但我对此有点兴奋,结果一片沉默。我又更兴奋了一些,还是一片沉默。我说:“拜托你们,这可能真的很酷,你们为什么看不到这有多酷?“我手下的一个人探过身来,看着我说:“Carole,你眼角那是眼泪吗?天哪,你要哭了吗?“然后他说:“你果然也是人吗?”
“你果然也是人吗?“然后我放声大哭,把议程撕了,说:“你们不觉得我是人?“我认为没有什么比这更值得我们在这场外出活动上讨论的了。接下来的两天,我们谈论了我是谁、我们为什么在这里、我们想要什么、什么对我们重要、我们如何帮助彼此。直到今天,我相信正是那一天我成为了一个领导者。直到今天我确切地知道,他们中任何一个人都会追随我到任何地方。
如何开始练习
Lenny Rachitsky: 为了帮助人们锻炼这个能力,开始实践——尝试 15% 的表露,试着变得更脆弱一点——你还有其他例子或小建议可以分享吗?比如说,这里有一些你应该开始多做的事情?
Carole Robin: 我们先说你可以从承认错误开始,尤其是当所有人都知道你犯了错的时候——忽视它实际上会让你损失更多可信度。你可以从 15% 开始,试着更多地分享你正在经历什么,尤其是在感受方面。最近有一门课叫做 Touchy Feely——注意重音在 Feely 而不是 Touchy 上。那是因为我们培养这种能力的很大一部分,归根结底在于恰当地运用感受。这就是为什么我们需要一个感受词汇表——多可悲啊,我们不得不开发一个感受词汇表,因为人们甚至连自己正在感受什么都难以触及。所以课程大纲里、课程中、书的附录里都有一个感受词汇表。每一个参加过 Leaders in Tech 项目的人都会拿到它。而这一切始于允许自己被了解——不仅仅是以事实的方式被了解……是感受赋予了事实以意义。
恰当运用感受的实例
Carole Robin: 让我再给你一个例子。如果我告诉你我去玩了高空滑索,嗯,这挺有趣的。也许你对我多了一些了解。也许你开始脑补出各种关于我的有趣故事。但如果我告诉你我去了高空滑索,而且我非常害怕,但我还是去了,因为我被家人半推半就,我不想被独自留下、错过这次经历。嗯,你对我的了解可就多得多了,不是吗?在我们举办的第一次 Leaders in Tech 静修营中,最让我满意的一个时刻来自一位曾经的学生。他在 15 年前上过 Touchy Feely,他说,基于 15 年前从 Carole 那里学到的一切,我无法想象再回来还能学到什么。但我还是来了。然后他说,不过不管 Carole 在不在,我绝不会花四天时间坐在这里聊我们多么所向披靡。我会直接走人。
我当时心想,“哦,“我真的好骄傲。当然,确实有些时候领导者需要站出来说,是的,我们确实所向披靡。所以另一个非常重要的、人们不太理解的事情是,这一切都非常微妙,高度依赖情境。大多数人会追问:告诉我遇到 X 情况该怎么做。嗯,X 是发生在这个人身上还是那个人身上?你和他们的关系如何?房间里 20 个人还是 250 个人?这件事有没有被录下来?有太多不同的因素了。谁会有权看到这些?有太多需要考量的东西了,尤其是在今天——我知道我年纪大了,这话听起来毫不意外——但我确实不是社交媒体的粉丝。我认为它在破坏牢固的关系方面、在摧毁人们学习或思考建立一段良好关系所需条件的能力方面,造成的危害远远大于益处。
好了,这个话题我们可以单独做一整期播客。我有一位前 Leaders in Tech 的学员给我发来了一段精彩的内容——这又是一个绝佳的例子——他给我发了封邮件,也可能是打了个电话,我不记得了。这不重要。他说,“我的全员大会每周一早上开。周五的时候,我发现我们的一个产品发布错过了重大截止日期,整个周末我都怒不可遏,气得想开除一大批人。“然后他说,“到了周日下午,我想起了你教过我们的一点:愤怒往往是一种次生情绪,愤怒之下往往是恐惧或受伤感。然后我意识到,哦对了,我其实挺害怕的——我害怕没有人像我一样对此感到忧虑。”
Carole Robin: 于是他说,“所以周一早上,我没有像准备好的那样站起来把他们痛骂一顿,而是站起来说,‘各位,我深感担忧和害怕——我怕在座没有第二个人像我一样对这个错过的截止日期及其对客户的影响如此焦虑。‘“他说,“我的团队从来没有这么迅速地团结起来去解决问题。“所以恰当地运用感受,是大多数人不具备的能力。他们甚至不知道如何触及自己的感受。几个月前,我在一场很大的工作坊上讲了这个关于愤怒是次生情绪的小故事,一位女士走过来对我说,“太感谢你了。我从来不知道我丈夫内心承载着那么多恐惧和那么多伤痛,因为他外在表现出来的永远只有愤怒。我从未想过背后可能是别的什么。“而愤怒是一种疏离型情绪,相比之下,受伤、恐惧、悲伤、孤独、快乐、喜悦都是连接型情绪。这些都是人们参加我们的项目后会学到的东西。
Lenny Rachitsky: 天哪,我已经被震撼到了。我能理解为什么你教授的这些东西能挽救婚姻。你刚才说的那个观点真的很深刻——愤怒是次生情绪,真正在底层运作的是恐惧或受伤感。你能再补充一些吗?因为这点感觉非常重要。
Carole Robin: 通常情况确实如此,只不过我们都被社会化成了不愿展示脆弱,尤其是在商业环境中。而说出那些其他的感受会让我们感到脆弱。不知为何,表现愤怒却不让我们感到脆弱。那是一种”可以接受”的情绪——只要你以恰当的方式表达——但它是一种疏离型情绪。这对所有在商业世界中的人来说是多大的伤害。对职业学习来说是多大的伤害——不去帮助人们理解愤怒是一种疏离型情绪,而还有其他恰当的、能够建立连接的情绪。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这和你之前讲的第一个观点——关于展示脆弱和更多地自我表露——完美地呼应上了。我完全能理解,如果你只是坦率地说出”我对此感到害怕”,这会如何拉近你和他人之间的距离,让他们更信任你,而不是选择隐瞒。
心智模型的更新
Carole Robin: 没错。它还和另一个方面有关。你我之前聊到过,我认为人们从 Touchy Feely 课程、Leaders in Tech 项目,甚至从这本书中获得的最大的收获之一,就是他们意识到自己持有某些心智模型、某些信念和假设——如果我这样做,那就会发生;如果我不这样做,这就会发生。这些信念和假设是我们在职业生涯早期形成的,就像我一样——无论做什么,把感受留在停车场。这一条一开始确实对我很有帮助。如果我入职两个月就哭出来,我绝不可能后来管理一个五千万美元的区域。但后来它对我过度发挥作用了,然后它开始让我付出代价,因为我从未有理由去更新它。
因为我从未意识到,继续持有那个驱动我行为的信念,其实一直在让我付出代价。心智模型——我们在很早期就形成了它们,它们已经被深深刻入了 groove,我们需要新的体验才能开始相信这些模型也许是可以被检验的。天哪,我将永远感激那位说”天哪,你果然也是有血有肉的人啊?“的学员。我当时心想,我怎么会变成一个被认为不像人类的人?再说回我们之前讨论过的一些内容——如果领导者不以一种愿意更新自身心智模型和信念的姿态出现,他们当然也不会激励任何人去这样做。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我很高兴你谈到了这里,因为这正是我接下来想要聊的方向——就是我们在心智模型上遇到的挑战:我们在早期形成了这些心智模型,然后它们在后来反而伤害了我们。有没有一些常见的、在人们成长过程中会伤害他们的心智模型?还是说这完全因人而异,取决于每个人的经历?
Carole Robin: 有一些确实是普遍存在的。第一个就是:如果我告诉你更多关于我的事情,你就会利用我。或者如果我对你展示脆弱、对你表露,你就会觉得我软弱。不可避免地,每个人生命中都曾有过这样的经历——那确实是真的,也许还经常是真的——但随后他们就断定那是唯一可能的结果。而实际上,成长和成熟的一部分,恰恰是学会区分,更有选择性地决定向谁敞开、如何敞开。就像我有一位同事常说的,我们要把这些东西想象成旋钮,而不是开关。不是非此即彼——要么什么都告诉你,要么什么都不说。不是分享每一个感受,或者一个都不分享。它是一个旋钮,你以 15% 的幅度去调节它。
反馈会破坏关系吗
Carole Robin: 人们持有的另一个心智模型——这也是参加我们课程的人获得的一个重大认知——就是人们认为,如果我给你反馈,就会破坏关系,就会削弱关系。这个想法非常普遍。尽管每个人嘴上都说”我想要更多反馈""我想知道怎样才能做得更好”,但所有人都认为给反馈会制造问题。这是因为大多数人确实曾经接过被给得很糟糕的反馈,或者自己给过很糟糕的反馈。他们确实踩了不少雷。但这并不意味着反馈会破坏关系——这意味着你一直看到的、一直采用的那种反馈方式,才会破坏关系。这一点非常重要。我们给人们配备的工具中,我觉得人们获得的最有力的学习之一,就是学会如何以一种能够建设关系而非破坏关系的方式去给反馈——它实际上能够加固一段关系。
如果你能看到我之所以想给你反馈,是因为我对你、对我们之间的关系是有投入的——类似地,我们对表达所谓”pinch”(小摩擦)也持有一些心智模型,就是人们做的那些小事情,我们心里就想,算了,不值得小题大做,我不说了。心智模型就是:嗯,这是件小事。但问题在于,如果我在做某件让你有点烦的事情,而你不告诉我,那我会怎样?
Lenny Rachitsky: 你会继续做。
Carole Robin: 然后你会越来越烦,还是没那么烦了?
Lenny Rachitsky: 更烦。
Carole Robin: 没错。如果我反而没那么烦了,或者情况没有改变,那你是对的,我确实不该说什么。但如果我有足够的觉察力——这也是为什么我们谈到两根天线,等一下我会再回到这个概念——能注意到自己越来越被激发、越来越烦躁,那对我来说就非常重要,要去说点什么。而且顺便说一句,趁事情还小的时候去处理,它就不会变大。这就是为什么我们说”在 pinch 还没变成 crunch 之前就说出来”,否则它就会变成一个大问题。但大多数时候我们会说”不值得”。所以我总是告诉学生,好吧,把”it”这个代词替换掉,换成”我""你""我们”——“我不值得""你不值得""我们不值得”。然后再问问自己,到底值不值得提出来。
两根天线与三种现实
Lenny Rachitsky: 我想聊聊怎么好好给反馈,但我觉得先谈谈你所说的”三种现实”和”网”这个概念可能会有帮助,因为我觉得它是很多内容的基础。
Carole Robin: 没错。事实上,它是给反馈的根本前提。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太好了。
Carole Robin: 它们之间关系非常紧密,你说到了点子上。对了,让我先花一点时间谈谈我提到的两根天线——书里也有写——我们每个人都配有两根天线。一根追踪的是”我这边发生了什么”,是我的内在天线;另一根试图接收的信号是”你那边可能发生了什么”。首先,要认识到这两根天线的存在;其次,要学会磨炼自己接收越来越细微信号的能力——这会让我们在人际交往中变得更加胜任。这也是为什么我非常推崇冥想和觉察练习。
好了,如果我们现在快进到你关于如何好好给反馈的问题——这涉及理解三种现实。它的起点是:在任意两个人之间的交流中,存在三种现实。第一种现实是我的意图——我如何看待这个世界、我的背景、我的经历;第二种现实是我做了什么、说了什么、或没做什么——无论是语言的还是非语言的。所以,我的内在状态是第一种现实,我的行为——无论语言的还是非语言的——是第二种现实。而发生在你那边的一切是第三种现实——我所说的或所做的产生的影响,你如何看待事情,你的背景。这就是三种截然不同的现实。
当我们没有意识到这三种现实的存在时,我们就会陷入麻烦——我们没有意识到,我们只能接触到其中的两种。我知道我这边发生了什么,我知道我做了什么,但我完全不知道你那边发生了什么。你知道我做了什么,以及它对你产生了什么影响。所以我们唯一共同拥有的,就是中间那个——行为。现在,我们在第一种现实和第二种现实之间画一张隐喻的”网”来帮助人们理解。任何上过 Touchy Feely 的人,无论在什么情境下,都知道那句话:“待在你自己那一侧的网。”
意思是:守住你知道的那两种现实,因为一旦我们开始以为自己知道对方的现实,麻烦就来了。我讲过很多次这个轶事,书里可能也有——我回家……不对,是我丈夫回家了,他在硅谷经历了漫长的一天。他是一位高管。我有两个小孩子,一个婴儿、一个两岁的幼儿。我一直等他回家。我冲进前厅——顺便说一下,那时候还有报纸。他正在看报纸,然后我说:“天哪天哪,你终于回来了。我等不及要告诉你今晚发生了什么。简直不敢相信。我们为什么要住在 Palo Alto 啊,老天爷?我不想在 Palo Alto 养孩子。这地方太糟糕了。我希望那家新的幼儿园——它甚至还没开张——就已经关门了。天哪。”
然后他说:“嗯,挺好的。“然后我说:“你没在听。“顺便说一下,人们学过”我信息”(I-message),“我觉得你没在听”——这和”你没在听”完全是同一回事,里面没有包含一个真正的感受词。我不知道他到底有没有在听。我已经越过网了,到了他那边的场地——除非我在他的脑子里,否则我不知道他有没有在听。然后他说:“有啊,我在听。你很激动。你去了那家新幼儿园——它还没开张呢。你很激动。“现在我又更加被激发了,我说:“你怎么能不在乎?“首先,他并没有说”我不在乎”,对吧?我不知道他在不在乎。顺便说一下,“你怎么这么不敏感?”——
“我觉得你不在乎”和”我觉得你不敏感”——这些不是感受。它们是指责和强加的动机,而这正是我们在给予反馈时犯的最大错误。这样做会让对方产生防御心理。所以,说我丈夫不敏感,恰恰是世界上最不敏感的事,因为他其实是这个世界上最敏感的人之一。直到我学会了待在自己这一侧的网,我才会说:当我说话时,我对某件事很激动,而你给我的回应要么只是一声哼哈,要么是无表情地重复我刚才说的话——那是第二种现实,任何看录像的人都会说,确实发生了这样的事——我感觉没有被倾听。他不能说”你有被倾听”。而当我感觉没有被倾听时,我感到受伤,也感到疏远。
我告诉你这些的原因是,当我感觉那样的时候,我没办法以我想要的方式在你身边支持你。所以这个公式是:当你做 [填入行为],我感到 [调用感受词汇],我告诉你这些是因为……或者,我希望你知道这些之后的结果是……。然后他说:“如果你想要我全神贯注,那你得给我一些回家后放松的时间。“多么合理的要求。我说:“你需要多少时间?“他说:“我不知道,半小时吧。“我说:“半小时?“我可是分分钟在数着等着。五分钟怎么样?我们最终定在了十五分钟。顺便说一下,这就是反馈的目的。建设性反馈的目的是进入解决问题的对话,不是改变对方,而是转向对双方都更有效的行为方式。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太棒了。这个结构——你刚分享的这个结构——和非暴力沟通的结构类似吗?
Carole Robin: 是的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好的,酷。
Carole Robin: 是的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 所以有相关的书人们可以读——
Carole Robin: 对。我们的在它之前,不过没关系。
Lenny Rachitsky: 哦,哇。好的,好的知道了。
传播沟通的方法
Carole Robin: 我想说,任何能传播这个理念的东西,任何能帮助人们学会以建立关系的方式彼此互动的东西,我都全力支持。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我喜欢这种态度。好的,那这个结构再说一遍就是——当你做某行为时,我感到某种情绪。顺便问一下,有没有什么传单或资料?我想书里有那种列感受的——好的,酷。列感受的。
Carole Robin: 感受词汇表是书里的一个附录。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好的,太好了。
Carole Robin: 公式也在附录里。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太棒了。好的。所以买书就行。如果有人想在这方面精进,网上有什么可以推荐给人们的吗?
Carole Robin: 我们有一张图……我发你几张幻灯片。
Lenny Rachitsky: 完美。
Carole Robin: 然后你就可以说,这是幻灯片。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太好了。我们会在节目备注里附上链接。
反馈中的相互发现
听你讲所有这些道理和建议,很容易理解为什么这是必须亲自去做的事。因为我想象课堂上的情形是——你和某人做了这个练习,然后你听到了对方的现实,而且经常会让你感到意外。对吗?
Carole Robin: 没错。因为我们常说”知一需要二”——我不知道我对你产生了什么影响,直到你告诉我。而我必须愿意展现一点脆弱去询问。如果我们回到你最开始让我描述的第一个练习,然后我们把他们重新配对,说:好了,现在你们学了一点关于反馈的知识,告诉你的搭档——他们做了什么让你更容易表露更多、更愿意展现脆弱?以及/或者他们做了什么让你觉得更难了?就在那个当下,你学到了关于自己的一些事情,而这些事情你可能永远不会知道。有人说:你在我说话时把目光移开了——你可能甚至不知道自己做了这个动作。你看了你的手表。我最喜欢这个例子。
我教书时最伟大的时刻之一是:我提了一个问题。我当时在法学院的大阶梯教室教书,墙上没有任何时钟。我提了一个问题,一个学生开始回答,我只是瞥了一眼手表,只是因为我在想我还有多少时间需要收尾。他下课后走到我面前说:“教授,我在回答问题时你看了手表,我感觉不被尊重。“我拥抱了他。嗯,首先我问他可不可以——“我可以抱你吗?“——然后我拥抱了他。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我喜欢的是,这些事情在现实生活中我们几乎从不会得到反馈。从来没有人告诉我们——你做的这件事让他们分心了、让他们烦躁了、让他们觉得没被倾听。
Carole Robin: 然后你猜怎么着?他离开了,然后有人问他,怎么样?他说,哦,她很不尊重人。然后很快,从来没在场的人也开始这么说。而我的名声变成了一个不尊重学生的教授。事情就是这样失控的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 是的。你希望人们能直接告诉你,对吧?每个人都想得到这种反馈,但给别人负面反馈太难、太让人不舒服了。
建设性反馈与赞美性反馈
Carole Robin: 顺便说一下,我在反馈方面从不使用”负面”这个词。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好的,好的。
Carole Robin: 反馈要么是建设性的,要么是赞美性的。建设性反馈是指:你正在做的某件事有问题,目的是——让我们进入解决问题的对话,就像我和 Andy 之间那样。赞美性反馈是指:哇,这是你第三次提前交那份报告了,而且完整无缺,甚至超越要求做了这个和这个。我无法告诉你我有多感激,我觉得有你为我工作是多么幸运。我告诉你这些是因为——如果有什么你想要而我们没有给你的东西,我想让你知道我愿意谈。顺便说一下,同一个公式。现在拿这个和”干得不错,谢谢”比较一下,对吧?所有反馈都是数据。所以所有反馈都是正面的。数据总是越多越好。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我同意。这是一个很棒的教训。也许为了让这对听众更实用——比如正在做产品的听众,他们需要给产品设计提反馈,或者给犯了错的同事提反馈——你能不能分享一个工作场所的例子?
Carole Robin: 我很高兴你问了这个,因为首先,我们不是在谈论绩效反馈,也不一定是针对任务本身的反馈。我们谈论的是人际反馈。它之所以如此重要,是因为如果你不处理好这个,其他反馈就会变成悬而未决的问题。当你把人际层面的事搁置不处理,其他反馈就不会顺利,因为真正的问题是——我还在生气你从不回我电话。所以现在我要把焦点全放在这个功能永远行不通上。举个例子。一位管理者或团队负责人走进会议室,开始一场会议,说:我想确保每个人都发言。我想确保我们进行充分的讨论。
反馈的实践示例
Carole Robin: 我们来讨论 X 这个话题。假设我开始发言,话还没说完,他就说:“对,我们还应该谈谈另一个事情是什么什么。“然后过一会儿类似的事情又发生了。我开始提出另一个看待这个问题的角度,他却转向别人,回应别人之前说的话,对我刚才说的完全没有任何回应。我这里说得很具体,非常行为层面地具体。再过一段时间,发生在我身上的情况就是,我越来越不愿意提出任何意见了。也许他不在乎,但如果他在乎——因为他一开始说他想听到每个人的声音——那么如果我不告诉他他的行为产生了什么影响,我就不够关心他。所以我不会在会议中间当面指出来,因为我不想让他难堪,但我可能会之后去他的办公室说:“John,你有几分钟吗?我有一个观察。我经历了一件事,你可能想知道。""当然,Carole。”
于是我说:当我开始说 X 的时候,你做了 Y。当我开始说 Z 的时候,你又这样做了。而且你开会的时候一开始说你想听到每个人的声音。当这些发生的时候,我越来越感到……我感到被压制了,越来越不愿意发表意见。也许这没关系,但我想知道你是否知道这就是影响。我告诉你这些,因为在我看来,在那场会议中,你并没有实现你声明的愿望。你期望的结果是听到每个人的声音。但过了一段时间,我就放弃了试图把我的……
Lenny Rachitsky: 这就像你之前描述的那样,你需要及时处理这些小摩擦。因为归根结底这些都是关系,关系很重要,因为这是我们完成一切事情的方式。如果你忽视这些,关系就会受损,你也就无法实现你想要实现的目标。这几乎是你必须去做的事情,尽管它让人感觉困难。
Carole Robin: 完全正确。这就是为什么我说反馈能建立关系。因为顺便说一下,如果我做了一件我希望自己没做的事,我不会说”太好了,我很高兴自己这么做了”。但如果我意识到,你本来可以什么都不说,那样会更舒服,但因为你在乎我,你实际上对我开了口——这本身就是建立关系的事。
探询的艺术
Lenny Rachitsky: 回到你提到的”天线”——你教给人们的最重要的技能之一似乎就是建立这种天线,既包括对自己(也许相对容易,但也未必),也包括理解对方的感受。你有一个叫”探询的艺术”的概念,它非常强大。能不能谈谈这是什么?
Carole Robin: 哦,是的,我很高兴你提这个。因为探询(inquiry)是强健的人际关系的一个基本组成部分,原因有几个。首先,我们停下来注意一下,inquiry 这个词的词根是 quest。quest 的意思是去搜寻,而且不知道你会找到什么——而不是大多数人所理解的提问和询问的方式。大多数时候,人们提问是为了证实一个假设。“你不觉得你这样做只是在抹黑 John 吗?“那不是探询。“你不觉得放下这件事会更好吗?“那也不是探询。顺便说一下,关于有技巧的探询,还有一点需要注意——首先,你必须悬置判断。如果你已经认定你知道别人在想什么,你就不可能好奇。你随时可以回到评判的状态,但你需要悬置它足够长的时间,看看有没有什么值得你学习的东西。
然后,提问的方式很重要。可以用是或否回答的问题通常是限制性问题,不会很有成效。以”为什么”开头的问题——“你为什么那样做?“——会让我产生防御心理。更糟糕的是,“你为什么哭?“这会让我想告诉你更多我为什么难过吗?或者”你为什么生气?“——我马上就会说”我没有生气,这不是什么大事”,或者进入一个不一定很有成效的状态,因为这让我想起小时候妈妈总是这样训斥我。两者都不会很有成效。所以要以”什么”开头提问:“这是怎么回事?""发生了什么?""这表现在哪里?""你上次看到这种情况发生是什么时候?""我们可以怎样来厘清发生了什么?""这主要发生在哪里?“——什么时候、在哪里、怎样——远离”为什么”。这是一门完整的艺术。
人可以改变自己
Lenny Rachitsky: 你教给人们的另一样东西,你很强调的一点——人是可以真正改变自己的。我想很多人可能会觉得,我就是不擅长这个,我不擅长给反馈,我不擅长提问,我就是……不知道。你能不能谈谈你所观察到的变化,以及为什么它其实是可能的,怎么做到的?
Carole Robin: 首先,对你的任何一位听众来说——我最喜欢的作者之一是 Carol Dweck,她写了一本书叫《Mindset》(心态)。你只要在任何那些话后面加一个”还”字——“我还不知道怎么做”,“我还不是那样的”——整句话的意思就变了。顺便说一下,这就叫做更新心智模型,瞬间更新心智模型。另一件我想说的是,我们每个人都有能力改变自己的行为。我们无法改变自己的性格。我们的性格是天生的。我非常外向和开朗,这对你们所有人来说可能一点都不意外。但你知道吗?当我做过头的时候,我会把房间里所有的氧气都吸走。我必须学会的一种行为——而且需要自律才能做到——就是适当闭嘴,这样别人才能更多地发言。
我的动力在于,我确实很想更多地了解他们在想什么,而如果我不闭嘴足够长的时间让他们告诉我,我就什么都学不到。所以行为是我们可以控制的东西。现在,当我给某人反馈,他们告诉我”我做不到那个”——如果我要求他们改变的是一种行为,我就会说:对不起,我恐怕不能接受”做不到”这个说法。我可以接受”我不想做”或者”我没有这个能力”,但我没有必要接受”做不到”。所以我只是希望你承认,这是你做出的一个选择。
Lenny Rachitsky: 沿着这个方向——我不确定这是不是你书里写的,但我在某个地方看到你说,如果你掌握了必要的技能,几乎可以对几乎任何人说几乎任何事。人们如何建立这些技能?我知道我们通过聚焦于网的己方结构讨论了很多,但你如何避免让人产生防御心理?
修复:当事情搞砸时该怎么办
Carole Robin: 首先,我们要明确一点:我们在这里所做的是提高成功的概率,而不是保证任何事情。假设你已经尽力了,你待在网的己方,你给了某人反馈,结果他们大发雷霆,骂你各种难听的话,还写……这时候就有一个新的学习机会,也是每个参加这些项目的人都会学到的,叫做修复。当事情搞砸的时候,你如何修复?因为无论你多厉害、技能多娴熟、初衷多好,有时候就是不管用。然后你就得知道怎么修复。这就是为什么,还记得我跟你说过我们的引导者有一套独特的技能吗?因为他们必须允许混乱发生,否则没人能学会如何修复。而修复往往可以回到我们已经讨论过的一些内容。举个简单的例子:我走进厨房,我丈夫正在跟什么东西较劲。我对他说,“要不要我帮你?“他说,“别对我指手画脚。”
我相信你的听众中没人能对这段对话产生共鸣。然后我没有说——“我不是在对你指手画脚,我只是想帮忙。你这种回应方式算什么?“而是说,“你听到我说了什么?“当某人的反应让你感到非常意外,和你刚才说的话完全对不上的时候,你能做的最有力量的事情之一就是回到这个问题——“你听到我说了什么?“因为十有八九,他们听到的不是你说的。他说,“我听到你在说我不知道自己在做什么。“顺便说一下,他说听到了什么才重要,至于那是不是我说的并不重要。我也没有说”那不是我说的”。我说的是,“哇,真庆幸我问了,因为我现在明白了你听到的是那句话,我也理解你为什么会有那样的反应。“然后我说,“让我重新说一遍。”
我表达对一个人的爱的方式之一就是主动提供帮助。如果以后我看到你遇到类似的困难,你希望我怎么做?他说,“等我来开口问你。“那是25年前的事了,这一直以来非常管用,因为我们已经结婚三十七八年了。回到反馈的话题,你给了某人反馈,他们变得极度防御。顺便说一下,跳到网的对方会引发对方也跳到网的对方,所以他们很可能也会跳过来。而且,一旦你给某人贴上标签,你就已经越过了网。事实上,你之前发给我一段很有意思的内容,我本来想找出来的,你说”没有人天生就带有粗鲁或自我中心的基因。“嗯,你猜怎么着?
粗鲁和自我中心都是标签,而不是行为层面的描述。所以称某人粗鲁或自我中心只会让他们产生防御心理。但如果你说”我被打了三次断,我告诉你这些是因为你说过想听我的观点,我只是觉得你应该知道,被打断让我很不舒服”——这样的话引发防御的可能性就要小得多。
Lenny Rachitsky: 完全同意。就是说出实际发生了什么,待在网的己方。
Carole Robin: 没错。
课堂练习与实操
Lenny Rachitsky: 所以我再一次感受到,在课堂上实际练习这些技能一定比仅仅听我们聊天要有效得多——光听的话可能只会想,好吧,我要开始待在网的己方了,我要去改善关系。书中还有没有其他练习的例子,可以让大家了解一下你们是如何学习这些东西的?
Carole Robin: 书中的每一章末尾都有一个叫做”深入学习”的板块,这些深入学习部分每一节都有一个建议的活动,一些你可以实际去做的事情,其中有些就来源于我们在课堂上做的练习。这是一个很好的起点,可以找到非常具体、实用的方式来应用这些内容。另一件我们经常做的事情——我在 Leaders in Tech 中经常这样做,在斯坦福的时候做得少一些,因为他们在 T 小组中已经做了大量练习,而且他们实际上是实时地彼此运用所学的一切。但有时候,对于我在 Leaders in Tech 中的高管学员,我会把他们三人一组。我跟你这么说——Lenny,我希望你想想一个你想给反馈的人,然后告诉我对方有什么具体行为?
让你有什么感受?你为什么要告诉对方?你希望这次对话达到什么结果?然后我来扮演你,你来扮演你的那个难搞的人,因为你了解他们而我不了解。我们进行角色扮演,因为你已经告诉了我你需要什么、你想要什么、你的情况是什么,然后你还得尽可能地演好那个难搞的人。第三个人通常是观察者,在旁边帮忙指出——“Carole,我觉得那句话越过了网。""Carole,我觉得那不是一个行为。“顺便说一下,我们说”我感到+感受”,十有八九人们说的是”我感到那个……”或者”我感到好像……”——“我感到你不关心”这不是一种感受。
“我感到好像无所谓”这不是一种感受。“我感到你不投入”这不是一种感受。实际上,这些全都越过了网。当你用”我感到”开头然后加上”好像”或”那个”的时候,几乎可以保证你已经越过了网。一个非常简单的小窍门——“我感到”后面直接跟一个表示情绪的词,你在语法上没法说”我感到那个悲伤”或者”我感到那个愤怒”或者”我感到那个烦躁”或者”我感到好像失望”——说不通的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这简直是绝佳的婚姻建议,我需要记住这些。
Carole Robin: 是啊,实际上很多夫妻一起买了这本书,一起读,这很棒。
建议会损害关系
Lenny Rachitsky: 还有几件事我想聊聊,我特别喜欢。其中一个是你分享的一个建议,你称之为”建议会损害关系”。
Carole Robin: 哦,我特别高兴你问到这个,因为有两三件事想说。首先,领导者往往有一个心智模型,就是认为自己必须拥有所有答案。这实际上是一个相当——不是一个很有成效的心智模型或信念。因为首先,这给领导者施加了巨大的压力。突然之间我必须永远都知道答案,那我不知道的时候怎么办?其次,我认为领导者的工作是确保找到最好的答案,至于它来自我还是组织中其他任何人,并不重要。这也为一种可能性留出了空间——别人可能有一个比我更好的答案。而一个非常非常好的方案可能因此被压制、永远没有机会浮现,因为人们害怕说出”嗯,我对此有一点不同的看法,如果我们这样做会怎样?”
我们曾因此造成过——甚至灾难。关于建议的另一件事是,它会制造甚至更大的人际权力落差。所以如果你是领导者,或者你本来就处于更高的权力位置,那么给我建议只会让我感到自己的权力更低,而不是——“好吧,让我们一起想想这件事,让我们成为思考伙伴。“很多时候当我们给出建议时,停下来问问自己是很有好处的——“我这么做是为了谁?是为了我自己,好让我显得什么都懂而自我膨胀,还是为了你,因为这真的能帮到你、让你变得更好?”
十有八九,作为思考伙伴陪着你探索各种选项并让你自己得出解决方案,不仅更能帮助你成长,而且你也不用再来问我了。如果你唯一的学习方式就是来问我,而你从不经历任何推导过程,不了解我是如何得出那个答案的,那我只不过给自己制造了更多的工作。
猴子法则
Lenny Rachitsky: 我最近刚读到《哈佛商业评论》上一篇很好的文章,讲的是”猴子法则”,你听说过吗?
Carole Robin: 听过。
Lenny Rachitsky: 基本上就是说,作为管理者,人们总是试图把猴子甩到你背上,让你来替他们解决问题。而你作为管理者的职责,是让猴子留在他们自己背上,去帮助他们自己解决。
Carole Robin: 没错,我很高兴你提到这个。因为人们已经习惯了走捷径——你来直接告诉我答案就好了。首先,你助长了他的无力感。你当然也没有帮助他学习和成长。如果你多少认为管理者的职责至少在某些时候应该这样做——有时候人们会说:“你就不能直接告诉我答案吗?“那我总是回答:我可以,但我不打算这么做,因为我认为那对你没有好处,因为那不是我的职责。我的职责不仅仅是给你答案。我的职责是把你变成一个最终自己就能知道正确答案是什么的人。
友谊中也适用吗
Lenny Rachitsky: 但”你就直接告诉我答案嘛”。这个道理也适用于友谊吗?我知道朋友经常会来找你,说”我需要一些建议”。这个原则也适用吗?通常也尽量不给建议,还是友谊中的互动模式不同?
Carole Robin: 某种程度上,同样的权力落差也可能发生。书中的第四章讲的就是两个好朋友的例子,其中一个总是试图给另一个建议。首先,如果你没有被请求,给建议可能会令人反感。所以我肯定不会在别人没问的情况下给建议。而且即使被问了,我也不一定立刻跳到建议上,我可能想先探索一下:你现在已经想到了什么?你已经尝试过什么方式?你在哪里卡住了?我可能会先问更多问题,再进入建议环节。因为十有八九,你最终给的建议根本不是那个人真正担心的或想问的。所以先进入探询。建议随时可以回头再给。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我发现每次我努力克制自己不给建议、转而多问几个问题的时候,每一次我都会意识到:天哪,我完全不知道他们真正想要什么、真正发生了什么。但这确实很难做到。我就是想说:“来,我直接告诉你,答案是这个。”
Carole Robin: 完全理解。因为你知道吗?这背后又是一个心智模型——“当你被问到的时候,直接给建议就是为你好,就是关心你的表现。“嗯,这是一个心智模型。不妨试着检验一下,看看它是否真的经得起验证。
Lenny Rachitsky: 那也许更准确的心智模型应该怎么描述?是”帮助对方自己想出答案往往更好”,还是”你其实往往根本没有理解到底发生了什么”?
Carole Robin: 最好的做法是先进入探询。因为,正如你可能想象到的,我本人倾向于非常坦诚的那一端,所以我会说:天哪,我脑子里有一大堆我觉得对你来说很棒的建议,但我打算克制住自己,因为我首先可能说不到点子上,所以我真的很想多了解一些。其次,我在想,如果我们一起探索不同的可能性,最终的效果说不定更好。
失败角落:AFOG
Lenny Rachitsky: 再问几个问题。一个是这样的,我们的播客有一个环节,我叫它”失败角落”,让嘉宾分享自己职业生涯中的失败以及从中学到的东西。你对失败有一种非常建设性的思考方式,用一个很棒的缩写来概括。能谈谈这个吗?
Carole Robin: 这个缩写是 A-F-O-G,代表”又一个该死的……”我不太了解你的听众,不想冒犯任何人。
Lenny Rachitsky: 没关系,说吧。
Carole Robin: Another Fucking Opportunity for Growth——又一次他妈的成长机会。每一个上过我课的学生、每一个我辅导过的客户、每一个参加过 Leaders in Tech 的学员都知道这个缩写。因为当出了问题或者一个人经历了失败时,我第一个问题永远是:那你学到了什么?因为总有教训可汲取。然后通常会接着说:是的,你刚刚经历了一次 AFOG。作为一个人生中经历过很多次 AFOG 的人,这个缩写能帮我拉回视角。我喜欢它所带来的视角——事情不是世界末日。有时候 AFOG 更痛苦一些,有些 AFOG 需要更长时间才能恢复。但大多数情况下它们都是可以恢复的,尤其是当我真的投入精力去拆解其中有什么值得我学习的东西的时候。
Lenny Rachitsky: 所以这里的建议是,当出了问题、当你失败的时候,把它看作 Another Fucking Opportunity for Growth,AFOG。
Carole Robin: 没错。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好。
卓越关系的六个特征
Lenny Rachitsky: 我们甚至可以回到最初的话题,做一个首尾呼应——建立卓越关系、建立牢固的关系。你在书中有一个关于如何建立卓越关系的清单。我知道你可能不全记在脑子里——
Carole Robin: 其实我大概还记得。
Lenny Rachitsky: 你大概还记得。那这份建立卓越关系的清单上有什么?
Carole Robin: 你可以回到这样一个事实:卓越关系有六个特征。实际上,这些特征就是随着一段关系沿着我们所讨论的那个连续谱向下移动时逐渐呈现出来的。每一个特征越显著,你在这个连续谱上就走得更远。
第一个特征是:我被你更好地了解,当然这其中涉及如何让自己被了解的技能。第二个是:我更好地了解你,这也涉及更好地了解你的技能,我们之前讨论了很多。第三个是:我们相信彼此的表露不会被用来对付自己。第四个是:我们能够对彼此坦诚。这就涉及所有的反馈技巧。第五个是:我们知道如何建设性地解决冲突。第六个是:我们致力于彼此的学习和成长。当这六个特征以不同程度的组合全部存在时,你就沿着这个连续谱走得更远了。
Lenny Rachitsky: 你在书中某处写道,当你和对方不再需要隐藏自己重要的部分,并且即使感觉害怕也能处理重大问题时,你就知道这段关系已经变得卓越了。
Carole Robin: 是的,我确实在某个地方写过这段话,而且我至今仍然认同。
总体主题与核心收获
Lenny Rachitsky: 如果你从自己所有的工作和教学中抽离出来,纵览全局,有没有什么反复出现的总体主题,是你认为人们应该从这次对话中带走的?
Carole Robin: 首先,我们都是未完成的作品,这意味着你生命中每一段关系也都是未完成的作品。因为如果我是一件未完成的作品,你也是一件未完成的作品,那么默认情况下,我们之间的关系也是。所以要记住,两年前对你有效的方式现在未必仍然有效,因为我们已经是不同的人了。我觉得这一点非常重要。其次,停下来觉察一下:驱动我做出这些选择的心智模型是什么?每一个行为之前都有一个选择。如果我们停下来足够久地去意识到它,而在每一个选择之前,都有某种信念在支撑。所以我试图让自己从结果回溯到行为,再回溯到选择,再回溯到驱动它的心智模型——或者说驱动它的技能,或技能的缺失。
与 Long COVID 共处
Lenny Rachitsky: 有一件事我们一开始没有聊,因为怕分散大家的注意力,但你到现在已经应对 Long COVID 快两年了。你现在情况怎么样?有没有从这段意料之外的经历中学到什么?
Carole Robin: 这给了我一个机会,去亲身实践我所教的大部分内容。我在领导力课上一直讲,一个领导者能做的最糟糕的事情就是让组织过度依赖自己。如果你希望建立一个可持续的、长期的组织和遗产,那么让组织不那么依赖你才是明智之举。所以在过去的 20 个月里,我缓慢而坚定地把越来越多的职责交给了团队中越来越多的成员,到了最近,新鲜出炉的消息是,我即将只担任顾问角色,可能在今年年底之前退出所有运营层面的职责。曾经有那么一刻,我心想,天哪,万一我突然好了怎么办?因为确实有人会好转。我一个很聪明的孩子说,“妈妈,我很确定,如果你突然好很多了,他们会很乐意给你安排很多事情做的。” 所以,这大概是最大的教训之一,同时伴随着关于”接纳”的学习——接受。
我在 LinkedIn 上写了一篇文章,我觉得是 LinkedIn 的帖子,不是博客文章。如果你去我的网站,可以看到我写的一些东西,标题大概是 Long COVID and Acceptance 之类的。但它讲的是,接纳不等于放弃,它是一个重新思考很多东西、重新框定信念的机会。我想最后再说一点,这段经历让我成为一个更有同理心的人,而且我认为在我们所做的人际动力学工作中,有一件非常有趣且重要的事情需要持续学习——你永远不知道别人正在经历什么。
而我们能做的最糟糕的事情之一,就是自以为知道别人正在经历什么。人们很容易……我想我在正式录音之前也说过这句话:在缺乏数据的情况下,人们会瞎编。所以如果你不想让别人对你瞎编,你最好多表露一些,这样你就能更多地掌控自我定义,而不是更少。人们喜欢让事情说得通,他们会用各种方式去把点连起来,除非你帮助他们按你希望的方式去连。这也是自我表露的又一个理由。
Lenny Rachitsky: Carole,非常感谢你抽出时间来做这次对话。我知道现在做这些事情并不容易。
Carole Robin: 谢谢你。
Lenny Rachitsky: 再提醒一下大家在哪里可以找到 Leaders in Tech 以及如何申请,告诉大家网址,以及它具体面向什么样的人,让合适的人去那里。最后,作为最后一个问题,听众怎样才能对你有帮助?
Carole Robin: 我在 LinkedIn 上。但你不能直接和我建立连接,我设置了那种不能直接连接的方式,你需要我的邮箱地址,你可以把我的邮箱放在节目说明里。任何人都非常欢迎……但如果你要连接我,请不要试图向我推销任何东西。我之所以这样设置,唯一的原因是太多人试图向我推销太多东西了,我实在不堪其扰。他们想连接我的唯一原因就是这个。所以我愿意相信,你联系我是因为你想和我建立连接,因为你对我的工作感兴趣,同时你也会了解并体谅我有 Long COVID。所以我回复消息和邮件的能力确实受到了影响。我以前是那种你可以指望我一定会回复的人。顺便说一句,这也是另一个学习——事实证明,并没有因为我不能立刻回复,大家就把我抛弃了。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这真的是一个很好的学习。好的,那对于想要申请的人,网站是——到这期节目上线时申请应该仍然开放——leadersintech.org,对吗?
Carole Robin: 对。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太好了。Carole,你太棒了。非常感谢你抽出时间,感谢你来到这里。
Carole Robin: 谢谢你。
Lenny Rachitsky: 大家再见。非常感谢你的收听。如果你觉得这期节目有价值,可以在 Apple Podcasts、Spotify 或你最喜欢的播客应用上订阅。也请考虑给我们评分或留下评论,这真的能帮助其他听众找到这个播客。你可以在 lennyspodcast.com 找到所有往期节目或了解更多关于这个节目的信息。下期再见。
术语表
| 原文 | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 15% rule | 15% 法则 |
| antenna | 天线(指对自身和他人情绪状态的感知能力) |
| appropriate disclosure | 恰当地表露 |
| appropriate vulnerability | 恰当的脆弱 |
| art of inquiry | 探询的艺术 |
| Carol Dweck | Carol Dweck(心理学家,保留原文) |
| comfort zone | 舒适区 |
| connecting emotion | 连接型情绪 |
| crunch | 大冲突(pinch 演变升级后的严重冲突) |
| danger zone | 危险区 |
| David Bradford | David Bradford(合著者,保留原文) |
| distancing emotion | 疏离型情绪 |
| exceptional | 卓越 |
| Fellows Program | Fellows Program(保留原文) |
| I-message | 我信息(一种以”我”为主语表达感受的沟通方式) |
| Interpersonal Dynamics | 人际动力学 |
| Leaders in Tech | Leaders in Tech(保留原文) |
| mental model | 心智模型 |
| Mindset | 《Mindset》(书名,保留原文) |
| net | 网(隐喻模型中区分三种现实的概念框架) |
| net jumping | 跳到网的对方(指越过网的己方结构,对他人的意图或感受做出假设) |
| over the net | 越过网(同 net jumping,指在反馈或沟通中超越了网己方的界限) |
| pinch | 小摩擦(指人际交往中那些微小的、容易被忽视的摩擦点) |
| power differential | 权力落差 |
| progressive disclosure | 渐进式表露 |
| referent figure | 参照人物 |
| referent power | 参照权力 |
| repair | 修复 |
| secondary emotion | 次生情绪 |
| T group | T 小组 |
| thought partner | 思考伙伴 |
| three realities | 三种现实 |
| Touchy Feely | Touchy Feely(斯坦福大学”人际动力学”课程的昵称,保留原文) |
| zipping it | 闭嘴(比喻控制自己不过度发言的行为) |
| zone of proximal development | 最近发展区 |
此文档由 AI 分片翻译(translate_long_document)