
Learn to handle insecure, fragile egos by offering praise with concrete areas for improvement, inviting openness to suggestions, and deciding whether to keep them on your team.
Recognize emotional blackmail in criticism, where a person threatens to quit to force behavior change; you can back off or set a clear boundary, but yielding undermines power.
Create your personal board of directors with experienced, honest peers who review your ideas and proposals. Use their feedback, alongside boss and client criticism, to identify how to improve.
Evaluate criticism by asking whether it is true, correct, or partially correct, and supported by specific evidence. Distinguish facts from feelings and demand solid examples to guide constructive takeaways.
Master the difference between hearing and listening by focusing on objective comprehension and truly understanding the speaker's message. Practice constant, nonjudgmental listening to improve clarity in criticism.
Overcome obstacles to build confidence and achieve anything, by finding a mentor, practicing, and applying resilience as keys to turning adversity into success.
Develop business insight by listening deeply to words and emotions, asking open-ended questions, and uncovering what customers and investors wish others knew about them and the misconceptions they face.
Appeal to emotions to persuade anyone, guiding you to move from rational considerations to emotional responses that clothes, cars, and homes evoke, with sales and networking benefits.
Reject the idea of chasing passions when choosing a career. Instead, find something you're really good at, excel in it, and gain time and resources to pursue your interests.
How do you take criticism? How do you use it to your benefit? How do you know if it’s true? Who is your critic? Does that person have the knowledge, experience, credibility, and expertise to judge your work?
What about you? How would you deliver criticism in a way that’s heard, understood, and is action oriented. Criticism—no matter how well intended means nothing—unless you can show a path to success for the person you are critiquing.
Then there is the sandwich technique. That’s when you open with a compliment followed by the intended criticism and then closing with more praise. The idea is to take the sting out of giving negative feedback.
Above all, the smart critic is empathetic. Everyone knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a less than wonderful review of someone’s work. That means that you need to tailor your language, tone, and attitude to those you are judging.
You’ll also learn the important difference between constructive and destructive criticism.
Then there is self criticism. Many if not most of us have this ongoing voice in our heads that are telling us what we’re doing wrong. That’s not necessarily a bad thing —in can stop us from making some serious mistakes. But if negative self-analysis is over done, it can be demoralizing. Make sure to toss in some well deserved compliments, too.