"Stephen King's first book, Carrie, was rejected thirty times. Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas.' Oprah Winfrey was fired as an evening news reporter for Baltimore's WJZ-TV because she couldn't separate her emotions from her stories. Steve Job was fired from the company he started, Apple, but was desperately brought back in to save in 1997."
What is similar about all the situations mentioned above? In each, the individual was criticized, but they each moved on and became public figures who were incredibly successful. They learned from criticism.
This post explores criticism, sharing a section on how criticism originally focused on literary criticism, which was also at a time when many could not read or write, and tracing the history forward to today, where we often use the word feedback.
The post provides insight into why people often react negatively to criticism and then moves to ways to embrace criticism. Below are three examples from the post. More information on each is in the post as are additional ideas...and think about this as a type of mindset that may help our learners move forward.
* Be intellectually humble.
* Remember your own human tendency to criticize.
* Lower your defenses and take responsibility.