How to Recognize “Hidden Feedback”

When Maya* became chief marketing officer at a consumer goods company, she soon found herself fielding her CEO’s detailed questions about campaign timelines, with a frequency that struck her as unusual for someone of her seniority. What she initially dismissed as the CEO’s micromanagement actually concealed his deeper—but unstated—concern about her ability to drive execution in agile and timely ways. Unbeknownst to Maya, the CEO was beginning to doubt he’d made the right decision to hire her.