How AI Helped Me Cry Less and Embrace Feedback

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From Kleenex to Clarity

My career growth plan included a box of tissues. Sounds sad, I know...but trust me, I’m not crying about it anymore.

Let’s be real. Feedback doesn’t always feel like a gift. Sometimes, it feels like a lump of coal wrapped in corporate politeness.

When I was early in my career, I had this involuntary reaction to tough feedback...I’d tear up.

Not full-on crying, just that sting behind the eyes that made everything blurry and awkward.

I didn’t mean to get emotional. I just hadn’t built that muscle yet.

Eventually, my manager stopped giving me hard feedback. I was stuck behind a wall of good intentions and empty encouragement.

I kept hearing things like “Keep up the good work” and “Just keep doing what you’re doing.” It sounded supportive, but it wasn’t useful. It was feedback with no direction, praise with no path forward.

And sometimes, it was just silence.

No one wanted to say the hard thing. Without real feedback, I couldn’t grow.

I wasn’t just standing still...I was quietly falling behind.

So one day, I told him, “I'm not getting constructive feedback anymore. I know I tear up, but I want the feedback. I need it. You have my full permission to be honest with me.”

He smiled. After that, whenever we had a serious conversation, he’d gently place a box of Kleenex on the table and say, “You ready?” I’d nod and say, “I’m ready.”

That box of tissue became our thing.

It helped me brace for the hard stuff. Over time, I stopped tearing up and started stepping up. I learned how to ride the wave of discomfort instead of avoiding it.

And I finally saw feedback for what it really was...a little uncomfortable, but exactly what I needed to grow.

My dad used to say,"Recibe lo duro, porque ahí está el oro."
Take the hard stuff because that’s where the gold is.

THIS WEEK'S INSIGHTS:

Trend: Emotional intelligence is no longer just a soft skill. AI is making it easier to develop.

Tip: Being sensitive to feedback isn’t a flaw. It’s a signal that you care—and that you can grow.

Tool: Tools like Yoodli and Cultivate help you get better at giving and receiving tough feedback with confidence and clarity.

TRENDS:

According to Harvard Business Review, emotionally intelligent leaders drive 20% higher team performance and 35% lower turnover.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, more than half of high-performing leaders will use AI-driven behavioral insights to improve how they lead and communicate.

McKinsey & Company found that companies who embed emotional intelligence into leadership development see up to 3x more team trust and faster decision-making.

What used to be instinct or trial-and-error is now becoming something you can coach, measure, and scale with AI.

Tools like:

Yoodli, which helps you practice saying things out loud—giving you live feedback on clarity, confidence, and tone.
Cultivate, which runs quietly in the background and tells you when you're slipping into "avoidance mode" or not giving enough feedback.

These tools don’t replace self-awareness. They amplify it. And that’s what creates safer, higher-performing teams.

TIPS: Limiting Beliefs → Empowered Shifts

Let’s break down a few of the beliefs that quietly hold us back from giving or receiving the feedback we need to grow:

Limiting Belief:
“I get too emotional to handle tough feedback.”

Empowering Shift:
“I can build the skills to take it in and grow from it.”

How AI Helps:
Yoodli helps you rehearse hard conversations so you can build confidence before the real thing.

Limiting Belief:
“I don’t like receiving feedback and can’t take it, so I avoid giving feedback, too, because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

Empowering Shift:
“I can create space for honest conversations to foster growth.”

How AI Helps:
Cultivate shows you when you’re avoiding important feedback moments and helps you show up with balance and empathy.

Limiting Belief:
“Feedback is personal, and it hurts.”

Empowering Shift:
“Feedback is insight. It helps me level up.”

How AI Helps:
AI helps you separate the message from your emotions so you can focus on growth, not defensiveness.

NEW TOOLS: Work Like An AI Leader

AI Prompts to Practice Emotional Intelligence:

Prompt 1: For Practicing Difficult Feedback Delivery

“You are my leadership communication coach. Help me prepare for a 1:1 meeting where I need to give constructive feedback to a team member who is underperforming. The tone should be firm but supportive, and I want to leave space for dialogue. Can you provide a draft script or talking points I can personalize?”

Use it with:

ChatGPT: Great for generating structured dialogue and framing tough feedback in a thoughtful way.
Yoodli: Practice saying the script aloud and get live feedback on your tone, pacing, and clarity.

Prompt 2: For Rewriting Feedback Messages

“Act as a people-first manager. Rewrite the following Slack message to be more empathetic and clear, without losing the urgency of the issue. The goal is to maintain trust while correcting behavior. [Insert message here]”

Use it with:

ChatGPT: Ideal for message tone calibration and rewriting for clarity and empathy.
GrammarlyGO: Offers fast rewriting with emotional tone detection for emails and Slack messages.
Lindy AI: Designed for work communication—perfect for polishing internal messages and aligning tone with intent.

Prompt 3: For Coaching Yourself Through Tough Feedback

“Act as my executive coach. I just received unexpected critical feedback from my manager and I’m feeling defensive. Help me reframe this feedback as an opportunity to grow. Guide me through 3 reflection questions I should ask myself to process it productively.”

Use it with:

ChatGPT: Excellent for reflective coaching exercises and thought-provoking self-awareness prompts.
Claude.ai: Known for a calm, narrative style that helps you emotionally process and reflect.
Mindsera: AI journal and mindset coach built for introspection and emotional processing.

Prompt 4: For Role-Playing Feedback Conversations

“You are a team member in a role-play exercise. Simulate a real-time conversation where I, as the manager, deliver feedback about missed deadlines. After I give the feedback, respond with how you would realistically react so I can practice handling different responses.”

Use it with:

ChatGPT: Great for simulating realistic responses and adapting to various personalities or reactions.
Yoodli: Combine with live verbal practice to improve your tone, word choice, and delivery.

Tools Worth Trying

Yoodli
Your personal communication coach for high-stakes conversations

Use it to rehearse tough feedback, get real-time insights on tone and clarity, and build confidence before the real thing.
Cultivate
AI-powered nudges to improve your leadership presence

Use it to track how often you’re giving feedback, spot communication blind spots, and create a more transparent team culture.
Hypercontext
Make your 1:1s and team meetings more impactful

Use it to prep coaching prompts, structure feedback, and keep leadership conversations focused and growth-oriented.

PRO TIP:

Before giving tough feedback, try recording yourself saying it out loud using a tool like Yoodli or your phone’s voice memo app.

Hearing yourself back helps you catch unintended tone, overly sharp phrasing, or emotional delivery that might land wrong. It’s like giving your feedback a test drive before handing over the keys.

👉🏽 What feedback are you avoiding, and what’s it costing you?

Closing Thought

Ask yourself this:

Are you making it easier or harder for people to give you the truth?

Feedback doesn’t always feel good. But staying stuck feels worse.

My tía used to say,

"Más vale un buen regaño que una vida entera de confusión." Better one good scolding than a lifetime of confusion.

So here’s your move this week...invite the truth, get better at receiving it, and maybe even coach someone else to do the same.

Let’s grow through it, not just go through it.

Hasta la próxima, Abrazos!

Monica Marquez

When You're Ready...

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