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As an electrical engineer, I have a clear understanding of feedback.
Feedback is what makes radios work - it makes audio systems work, it controls power stations, backup power systems, and all sorts of clever devices.
Feedback also keeps businesses from going bankrupt, it keeps the national, provincial, and the city economy from running amok, and it keeps you from stepping into open manholes.
Back in the last century, a management consultant named George Odiorne told this story.
Imagine if you went bowling, and you found that someone had hung a huge curtain across the middle of all the lanes, so you couldn't see the pins. You could throw the ball, and you could barely hear something, but you couldn't see the pins go down - you couldn't tell which ones had fallen.
You wouldn't know where to throw the next ball - but worse than that - how much fun would bowling be? You would throw ball after ball, but you would have no score, and the effect of your aim would be totally missing.
Seeing how the pins fall is the feedback that tells us how effectively we are throwing the ball. Without feedback, there is no game at all.
In a business, you get all sorts of feedback. The customers give feedback on how good the product or service is; the accountant gives feedback on how much money the business is making, and so forth. Without it, the business could go under; but even if it is succeeding, how would you know?
Would you recognize feedback if you experienced it? If not, how could you adapt to enjoy a better life?
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