I recommend that teams receiving executive feedback try to “extract the kernel.” When you get a question from an executive, focus on understanding the insight or perspective within the question. Then confirm that insight with the executive explicitly. Going back to the example above, after the CTO recommends using ChatGPT, you could confirm back by saying, “To make sure I’m understanding, the most important feedback here is that we should figure out how to accelerate our timeline?” Now you can ensure that the CTO’s feedback is addressed rather than getting caught up on the incidental details in their question.
Extract the kernel.
from Irrational Exuberance
