People forget to address power dynamics. New hires at a company are often grateful to have a job and nervous to make a good first impression. If you immediately

People forget to address power dynamics. New hires at a company are often grateful to have a job and nervous to make a good first impression. If you immediately ask for feedback from these people they are going to do everything they can to show that they’re (insert all the positive adjectives you can here) so that they get to keep their job and impress anyone who may be watching. On top of that, this effect continues indefinitely for some people, who never stop feeling so grateful for having a job at all (or they’re just that type of person, or they’re playing a game) that they have to be super effusive indefinitely over every little thing. Some people also just like to be butt kissers. People like Rachel (and myself) who speak up from the very start and never stop speaking up are unfortunately very rare. Employers who can recognize how valuable we are, are luckily not that rare, so long as the truth-teller can maintain their composure.