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I was in the Entrepreneurs Organization (http://www.eonetwork.org/ http://www.eonetwork.org/) for a few years, and the organization had a required protocol for
by jonmc12 15y ago
I was in the Entrepreneurs Organization (http://www.eonetwork.org/ http://www.eonetwork.org/) for a few years, and the organization had a required protocol for advice sharing called 'Gestault Protocol', loosely derived from principles in Gestault Therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_therapy#Overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_therapy#Overview). Effectively, the protocol prohibited you from sharing opinions as advice, and forced the sharing of specific experiences through personal stories.
This protocol becomes very useful in situations where other people have been down the same road as you - things like business processes, development processes, hiring, dealing with employees, raising money, investing money, etc. However, it also provides a nice boundary for giving advice - only share experiences, never share opinions. So, when I'm asked for advice, I listen careful, and try to see if I have any relevant experiences to share, or I try to think of who might be better suited to share experiences.
Further, when I am asking for advice, and someone lends an opinion that seems interesting, I ask pointed questions about this persons experience to determine how I will weight the input, and whether the experience indeed does apply to my situation. So overall, I've found experience sharing to be a relevant boundary for giving and receiving advice.
- marcell 15y agoI reached a similar conclusion when I noticed two things that repeatedly happen when giving advice: 1) People don't follw your advice. I don't mean this in a frustrated, "I know more than others" manner, but just as a matter of fact: people want to solve their own challenges, and they know more about their own challenges than you do. When advice is given in the form of "Do this, it will work out for you," it's usually ignored, and often with good reason. 2) Advice is based on personal experiences. This is what the "Gestault Protocol" sounds like, and it makes a lot of sense. Your personal experience is the "primary source," in a sense, and your advice is an interpretation of it. Why not let others draw their own conclusions and benefit in a richer way from your experiences? I've been following these two guidelines, and find it gives good results. Glad to see others are doing similar things.
- aaronblohowiak 15y agoThe best advice I get usually is in the form of "these are the hidden dangers you may not anticipate..." i suppose this is a special-case of the personal-experience-sharing "advice" that the GP is talking about
- prpon 15y agoI have a different experience from you. I am a rookie at this entrepreneurship thingy. When I ask for advice, I really am looking forward to following it. Try it and see where that leads. My biggest skepticism is advice from people who never tried it themselves. They are successful so they feel the right to give advice even if they don't have any experience. The best quote about startup advice that I've ever heard comes from Paul Buchheit, Limited life experience + Over generalization = Startup advice
- 6ren 15y agoexperience is data; opinion is theory