Feedback with Beyonce

Alchemy 9-04-2022

This week’s essay is a little addition to the brand new JOY THEORY episode. Start with the episode. Then read this. It will make a lot more sense. 

Part of improving my skateboarding this summer, particularly my kickturn, has been being open to feedback. As I mentioned in the JOY episode, skateboarding is kind of a feedback unicorn. Feedback here exists in the Safe+ Useful quadrant and runs smoothly, fostering improvement within the community. It’s magical as fuck and somehting I hope to be able to really dissect and replicate in other environments. Not everyone wants to skateboard, but can we all participate in feedback like someone who skates off a 73 foot ramp, right?  

The feedback I received while in process was definitely the spaghetti against the wall variety. “Try this, this is how I did it, maybe try it here, there’s less of an incline.” And it all helped. I listened, tried it all before deciding if it worked for me or not, focused in on a few key pieces of feedback that seemed to work and went from there. I was improving, slowly but surely, and then, as I mention in the podcast , everything in skateboarding is just 2 tries away. 

I was working at it this past weekend, when one of my crew friends said, “This is wild, but you know what really helped me nail my kickturn? Beyonce.”  Turns out the beat to the song Single Ladies, paired with the lunge sort of squat move that Bey is pretty well known for, provided the perfect formula for a kickturn. “That’s nuts, right,” she said.”  Totally, but I tried it anyway, 

See what sticks. 

And yeah if singing Single Ladies in my head and picturing Bey in her leotard and heels didn't totally do the trick. 

Full circle. Kickturn nailed. A celebration. 

The beat, the movement, something clicked. And isn’t that amazing?! I guess this is why they say don’t bring an umbrella to a brainstorming session. 

But there is something deeper here. The system that is in place that created an environment where this type of feedback is welcome is important. This wildly creative and totally out of the box feedback, is not only accepted, but utilized. Great that Beyonce can inspire improvements in skateboarding, but it is the health of the system that inspired the possibility that an idea like this can be shared and integrated as feedback. Turns out skateboarding is kind of the perfect model for healthy and effective feedback systems. 

But why? Why skateboarding?

I’m sure to any skateboarder this is not surprising. We all know what skateboarding can do for us. It can be hard to put into words, but we all know it. As I say in the podcast, I’m working on figuring out exactly why the skateboarding community has been able to create this kind of ideal feedback situation. I have a few ideas, but as in all processes, answers will continue to unfold. For now, if there is something you are trying to do, a project, chore, or a goal, throw a little spaghetti against the wall. And when all else fails, listen to Single Ladies. 

xxx

LAS