Criticism.
The easiest thing in the world to avoid is criticism. All you have to do is nothing. Do nothing of your own free will. Do only what is asked of you and nothing more, and and chances are you will never be criticized .
For those of us who set goals and want to have an impact in the business world in particular , criticism is part of the job description. You have to be able to be able to take it and sometimes you cant be afraid to dish it out.
Although criticism is typically perceived as a negative, it can be one of the most positive and motivating forces any of us can experience. The key to turning criticism into a positive is understanding the nature of the criticism.
In a nuthsell it comes down to content. Is the criticism based on content or not.
Ive received a ton of criticism in the media over the last few weeks. People criticized where, when and how I did things. Not a single person criticized or challenged why.
When I was criticized for our Day & Date movie release strategy at HDNet Films, people speculated what might or could be to the movie industry, but no one criticized or challenged why we did it, to create value for HDNet and to give consumers more choice and value.
When we started Sharesleuth, I was criticized for not working within traditional journalistic norms, but no one challenged the validity or need of the company
When I wrote that the Naked Short “conspiracy” is no conspiracy at all, but rather a way of misdirecting attention from underperforming companies, I was called part of some wild conspiracy run by a “Sith Lord” by Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, without any evidence to support his wild claim or contradict mine.
the list goes on and on.
I get criticized a lot.
So what.
if someone says something of value. I will learn from it. If they criticize to fill up a column or to hear themselves talk, I can get a good laugh out of it.
What it all comes down to is content and effort.
If someone puts in the effort and challenges the content and makes me rethink my position, I come out ahead. So criticize away.
One housekeeping note.
i will turn on comments. If you write about anything off topic. It will be deleted. If you try to stretch to get in a “Im great, you suck” type comment, it will be deleted. If you try to sneak in any comments related to player transactions in any way. It will be deleted.
Bottom line, if it doesnt add value to the discussion, it will be deleted.
Take it as honest criticism 🙂