What an epic rejection THIS turned out to be..
07-sep-2026
Recently I’ve been digging deeper into the issue of why so many fail to fully take advantage of feedback.
I put “fully” in italics there because it’s not like people aren’t receiving feedback.
They are.
But they don’t know the how-to part of it.
Can we go to the next level of our lives before we feel ready?
“Jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down.”
— Ray Bradbury
Comfort Kills. It Kills the Future.
So does restricting ourselves by not accepting feedback.
Note: The following anecdote about Andy Warhol and Mel Ferber is included here as it appeared in the original 2021 essay, but I have not yet verified the full story from a primary source.
In 1956, Mel Ferber was the director of an early TV show for CBS called Good Morning.
One day a staff member came up to him looking concerned.
The staff member had a friend who was out of work and desperate. Might there be a job opening? he asked.
“No, all positions are filled,” he said. “But just out of curiosity, what does your friend do? Could he handle technical work? Cameras, lights, things like that?”
No, it turned out.
“But he’s good with his hands,” the staff member piped up. “He can draw a bit.”
The director thought for a second.
“Oh, he can draw, can he? Well, send him around then.”
Later that day, a young man named Andy showed up in the office, eager for his opportunity. But he was also a little wary as to what the director had in mind for him.
Andy was put to work sketching little cartoon characters reacting to various weather conditions as the TV reporter passed them along.
This continued for many years.
One day Andy decided to show his gratitude by gifting his cartoons to Mel.
“I’m sorry,” he told the young man. “But I just have to be honest with you. These things are … well, let’s just say they’re not my taste.”
Andy was not offended by this rejection.
In fact, he thanked his boss for not accepting them out of kindness and then hiding them in a dark closet.
Andy before this rejection was Not Ready.
Not ready to go to the Next Level.
Three things were stopping Andy
- Impostor Syndrome
- Procrastinating Greatness
- Comfort of the Present [Neglect of the Future]
Many years passed.
Andy worked himself out because the Andy who gratefully drew cartoon figures for the morning weatherman was none other than Andy Warhol himself.
Andy had to struggle to find his greatness.
You don’t have to.
As a leader, we tend to overthink and overdo. I practice these three golden principles.
- Build Anticipation of the Future.
- Give Voice to Vision.
- Disrupt Self.
Are you hiding from your Future Self?
I did for many years before my coach pushed me off the cliff.
It’s a pretty common issue, actually.
If that’s you, or if you know you’re leaving money on the table when it comes to your future self, then feel free to write to me.
P.S. I’ll tell you one part of the analogy that does hold up pretty well.
It’s the fact that Warhol wasn’t offended by his boss’s rejection one bit.
I love that.
2021-07-07 · Landour, India
Originally published by me on Medium.