The more senior you are, the older your information about yourself.
By the time feedback reaches a chief executive it has been softened four times — by the person who noticed, by their manager, by the HR partner, and finally by you, because nobody enjoys hearing it. What arrives is months late and mostly polite.
Why the delay grows with the role
Power changes the price of honesty. Every person who tells you something difficult is weighing what it will cost them. The higher you climb, the more they weigh it, and the less you hear.
You cannot remove the cost of telling you the truth. You can make it visibly smaller.
Build a protected channel
Two people, chosen for candour rather than seniority.
One question, every fortnight: what did I do this week that made your job harder?
One rule: you may ask a follow-up, but you may not explain yourself.
Guard that channel more carefully than any dashboard. It is the only data you have about the one person nobody else measures.
