How to Take—And Give—Criticism Well
Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out.
We live in the age of popular criticism. Search a doctor’s name on the internet, and you will quickly find patient assessments of their abilities and bedside manner. Before buying an item even as humdrum as paper clips on Amazon, you can find hundreds of reviews, some extensively detailed, others succinctly vitriolic. You can post on social media that a celebrity’s haircut is bad, and you stand a decent chance that he will actually see your snark.
In my own business, student evaluations are taken with deadly seriousness. As one academic colleague quips, professors today are treated like a Denny’s on Yelp. Google yourself and your professional rep, and you may find that opinions are … mixed.
We all love to criticize. Unfortunately, we also hate
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days