Where I Stand
- With 5-8 people, every person is 12-20% of the company. Have I given each one specific, actionable feedback in the last month? Not "great job" — feedback that names what to change and why.
- Burke shares her own performance review with the team. Have I shared mine? Would I be willing to? The CEO feedback notes in this vault show I solicited feedback — but soliciting is not the same as acting on it publicly.
- "The resort must match the brochure." What did I tell each person when I hired them about what working here would be like? Does today match that promise?
- Burke says employee happiness isn't predictive. "I see myself here in 12 months" is. If I asked each person that question right now, would the answers scare me?
- Frequent Flyers — people who recruit others into caring about things that don't matter. In a team of 5-8, one Frequent Flyer poisons 20% of the company. Have I identified mine?
- Burke says separate protein from sugar in feedback. Am I filtering what the team tells me? Am I dismissing real complaints as entitlement, or am I treating entitlement as real complaints?
What I Need to Change
- Write my own performance review — honest, specific, with things I'm bad at — and share it with the team this quarter.
- Give each person one piece of specific, actionable feedback this week. Not in a 1:1 someday. This week.
- Ask every team member: "Do you see yourself here in 12 months?" Listen to the answer. Don't defend.
- Define what "career-best work" looks like for each role. If I can't articulate it for every person, they can't hit it.
- Stop being warm as a substitute for being demanding. Burke says you can be both. I default to warm and avoid the demanding part.
The Hard Question
If you shared your honest performance review with the team tomorrow — the real one, not the curated one — would they respect you more, or would they see someone who's been hiding?