What Your Reaction to Criticism Says About You

A note to young leaders.

If a six-year-old walked up to you and said: “You are so clueless, you’re just plain dumb” – how would you react?

You’d probably smile, or even laugh – right?

That’s our natural response to a criticism we know to be false. We stay calm. We shrug it off. It doesn’t land – because there’s nowhere for it to land.

The opposite is also true. When a criticism hits a real vulnerability — directly or even indirectly — we flare up. We get indignant. We start defending before we’ve even finished listening.

Take this as a reliable indicator: the more a criticism provokes an impulsive, angry of emotional reaction in you, the more truth it likely contains.

So when you feel that surge – the tightening, the urge to fire back – pause. Ask yourself: What’s this about? Why does that comment offend me? What does my reaction tell me about who I am and what I’m protecting?

Criticism is a mirror: sometimes clear, sometimes cracked.

If you don’t like the image you see, don’t shatter the mirror in anger – study it with composure.