Most efforts to improve individual and organizational learning focus on teaching people how to give feedback. After years of consulting with organizations around the world on how to manage their most challenging conversations, Heen and her colleagues realized they may have been thinking about the problem the wrong way. She explains why, if you want to improve learning in your organization, the smart money is on figuring out how to receive feedback—even off-base or poorly delivered feedback—and use it to fuel growth.

With plenty of examples and a natural charm, Heen delivers a talk that will change the way you think about feedback. Most of us have a love-hate relationship with feedback, but Heen thinks we can learn to embrace it for the valuable tool it is. If we handle it right, we can use it to enhance our performance and strengthen our most important relationships.

A founder of Triad Consulting Group and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, Heen has spent the last 20 years with the Harvard Negotiation Project, developing negotiation theory and practice. Her work takes her throughout the world, helping people and organizations work through their most difficult conversations.

A New York Times bestselling author of two books, she specializes in particularly difficult negotiations – where emotions run high and relationships become strained. An expert often sought out by the media, Sheila is schooled in negotiation daily by her three children. Learn more about Sheila Heen at bit.ly/1IQ0azH.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx