BIO: Amit Kumar is the CEO of OLX Autos India. He is an entrepreneur, a business leader, and a speaker.
STORY: Amit took an employee under his wing and mentored him for a couple of years. The employee later found another opportunity and had to leave the company. Amit decided to offer the employee some feedback during his sendoff party. The employee didn’t receive his feedback so well. The employee shut him out, changing the course of their relationship.
LEARNING: Feedback is gradual. Offer feedback in the right environment.
“Feedback is not just about the annual appraisal; it’s more about being open to talking about it in your weekly one on ones.”
Amit Kumar
Guest profile
Amit Kumar is the CEO of OLX Autos India. He is an entrepreneur, a business leader, and a speaker. After his humble beginnings, Amit graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and built multiple internet eCommerce ventures in Asia, Africa, and Europe. He is a regular contributor to Leadership, Entrepreneurship & Economics. He is passionate about human evolution and is a psychology geek.
Worst investment ever
Amit’s company was scaling fast and needed skilled people to do this. They hired a brilliant young man who impressed Amit from the word go. He started investing his time mentoring the young man because he saw great potential. Amit believed that if the employee grew, the business would grow too.
After about a year and a half of mentoring and working with that particular employee, the business grew almost ten times in that period. The employee eventually found another opportunity and had to leave the company.
Amit decided to share some feedback with the employee at his sendoff party. The two were in the smoking room. Amit shared a few not-so-easy to hear things about the employee. They parted ways happily, and Amit thought everything was ok, but later realized that the employee had utterly shut him out. He figured it was the hustle of moving companies but, Amit realized that their relationship had changed after a few months. When he looked back, he realized that the feedback session was what had changed their relationship. Amit should have handled it better.
Lessons learned
- Don’t offer feedback suddenly and all at once. It has to be gradual.
- Enable two-way feedback.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Offer feedback in the right environment to be received well and be impactful.
- Put your principles before your personality whenever you’re getting frustrated with someone.
Actionable advice
Don’t wait until the annual appraisal to offer feedback. Do it as often as weekly during your one-on-ones. Put your verbal feedback in writing as well.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Amit’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue to become a better, healthier, and happier human being.
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