Ways to distingish yourself – #48 Handle criticism with grace
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 22 Oct 2005, 1:34 PM - 3 Comments
Most people can’t handle criticism well. In fact, if you criticize
someone on a topic, some of the most common reactions from that person
will be:
* to attack you for one of your related or unrelated fault
* to ignore and not bother
* to question your authority and qualification to criticize
If this happens consistently, one effect of this is may be that you
won’t criticize the person again. What might very well happen is
that you might
marginalize the person. In other words, you may write off the person
from your life as one of the “not so important” things in life.
The same rule applies to you when someone criticizes you. While it’s
easy to say “handle criticism with grace” it’s hard to follow. Next
time when someone criticizes you for something, try focusing on the
message rather than the messenger. It may change the way you look at things.
Related Articles:
- Grace and Elegance
- Why is it hard to handle criticism?
- Ways to distingish yourself – #38 Ensure that WIIFT > WIIFM
- Mini Saga #51 – Criticism
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Anonymous on October 22nd, 2005
A splendid suggestion, Rajesh. I’ll add that “Handle email criticism and flames with grace” is an important extension. I’ve been surprised time and again how people are quickly sucked into the flamefest when confronted with aggressive email, and how conversely the rudest of email authors can instantly turn apologetic and quite pleasant if you respond with a pleasant and friendly message rather than more vitriol.