Echo Chamber: is “an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.”
The other day I was listening to the Jocko Podcast. He was interviewing Medal of Honor recipient, Dakota Meyer. Toward the end of the interview, Jocko starts exchanging views on being stuck in an echo chamber. This subject made my ears perk up. It’s a place I know all too well.
Personal echo chambers tend to be influenced and spawned from one’s immediate surroundings. What you consume and who you engage with, have a huge factor and how you think.
If you are inside the music and hospitality industry it looks something like this.
Every night an audience member tells you how awesome you sound, or how amazing your venue is. Each time you hear praises….the awesomeness level goes up a notch and you can do no wrong.
You start to believe these voices and it creates this egotistic echo chamber with no room for growth. I’ve seen this transcend in both musicians and venue owners. I have also let these voices inflate my ego as a bartender.
Once the echo chamber fills up, it’s almost impossible to get through or alter the mentality. Receiving feedback and criticism goes in one ear and out the next.
I am fortunate enough to live with someone who tells me her honest opinion all the time. She never sugar-coats her insight. She delivers an honest take. At first, her responses were aggravating. I thought my work was good, I was offended. But after taking a step back….I realized she was only encouraging me to get better. And that I needed to hear the truth.
After that, I became comfortable with feedback. I decided to find a group that would offer more perspective. I found two groups, one for my personal growth and one for business. Even though I don’t always agree with their assessments, they force me to see new perspectives. They also get me outside my own chamber.
When we first started CJS, folks told us how much they liked working with us. This stuck with me for a long time. It clouded my brain and made me bad at decision-making and business. I had the two confused. I thought if folks liked us then we must be good at running a business. This was far from the truth and it derailed our growth. I was stuck inside my own echo chamber that stunted my business. It took me taking a step back to realize that to grow, feedback and criticism is crucial.
Take your career, business, or goals to the next level by finding someone who will give you an honest opinion. Don’t get stuck in your echo chamber. Strive to get better.
