Harbinger Blog

He told me about pitching an idea to build a tower in Montréal. He had done the work, thought through the details, and was feeling good about it. Before he could get through the full picture, someone had already found the problem. Not a question, not a “have you considered,” just a problem. Then another. The idea never got a fair shot. It got torn apart before it could breathe.

Feedback is ingrained into everything we do. From a comment on a shared document to a performance review, we are constantly sending and receiving signals about how we’re doing and what we can improve on. Good feedback builds trust, accelerates growth, and makes teams better. Bad feedback, on the other hand, can erode confidence, create resentment, and quietly poison the culture it was meant to improve. The difference between the two is rarely about intention.

The go-to response to unhappy employees has become the well-being session: workshops, therapy check-ins, mindfulness programmes. The intention is good. But are we solving the right problem?