Ep 56: The One Thing Your Team Knows About You That No One's Saying Out Loud

Honest feedback doesn't fail because people don't have it. It fails because leaders haven't made it safe enough to give. Jay Feitlinger and Sarah Shepard pull back the curtain on the "One Thing" exercise they've run inside StringCan's quarterly planning for years, and why it took nearly two dozen iterations before it clicked. Jay walks through the format live, using Sarah as the example. They talk openly about what it takes to build a team where this kind of conversation not only survives but also becomes something people genuinely look forward to. If your review process leaves the room feeling unchanged, this episode is for you.KEY TAKEAWAYS:Why the feedback you're dreading to hear is almost never what your team actually brings up, and what that gap is really telling youHow one structured exercise can reveal the true trust level of your leadership team before you launch anything newWhat it looks like when a leader receives hard feedback in front of their team, and why it's one of the most powerful signals your culture is sending right nowWhy annual reviews are structurally broken and what a quarterly alternative actually looks like in practiceHow applying this exercise between sales and marketing could quietly dissolve the cross-department friction that's costing you revenue alignmentEPISODE CHAPTERS:00:00 - When You Actually Look Forward to Hard Feedback01:15 - Why Sarah's Buying Walking Shoes for France and What It Has to Do With Boredom on Purpose 03:47 - The One Thing Exercise: Where It Came From and Why It Works06:13 - Trust Isn't a Value You Post on the Wall, It's How You Respond in the Room 08:51 - Jay Puts Sarah in the Hot Seat Live: Watch the Process in Real Time13:19 - What Jay Actually Said to Sarah and Why It Mattered More Than a Performance Review 15:58 - Why High Performers Are Usually Hardest on Themselves and How This Exercise Resets That 20:30 - The Moment a Team Member Said This Was the Part of Planning He Dreaded Most 24:36 - How to Introduce This If Your Team Has Never Done Anything Like It26:13 - Why Writing Feedback Down Instead of Saying It Out Loud Is a Red Flag27:30 - What Happens When Sales and Marketing Do This TogetherABOUT YOUR HOSTSJay Feitlinger is the CEO of StringCan Interactive and co-host of Revenue Rewired. Connect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayfeitlinger/Sarah Shepard is the COO of StringCan Interactive and co-host of Revenue Rewired. Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahshepardcoo/ABOUT THE REVENUE REWIREDRevenue Rewired is a podcast for B2B marketers, sales leaders, and business owners navigating the intersection of sales and marketing. Every episode delivers actionable insights for mid-market companies that are serious about growing revenue strategically.Email: [email protected] Website: www.stringcaninteractive.com Get the Revenue Rewired book: https://www.amazon.com/Revenue-Rewired-Identify-Leaks-Costing-ebook/dp/B0FST7JCXQ Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/crm-swamp-you-built-jay-feitlinger-v4peeKEYWORDS: leadership feedback culture, B2B revenue alignment, sales and marketing alignment, quarterly planning process, EOS integrator visionary, leadership trust building, one thing exercise, radical candor leadership, mid-market growth strategy, revenue operations podcast, B2B leadership podcast, team feedback framework, executive team trust, performance feedback alternatives, Revenue Rewired podcas