Tag: Criticism

Confidence

Confidence in one’s ability diminishes when leaders experience failure, suffer discouragement, or they are harshly criticized by others.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal” is the powerful thought expressed by Winston Churchill. Recognizing that the only time failure exists is when we give up helps us redirect our thinking when success is beyond our reach.

Suffering discouragement generally follows moments of failure. We begin to overcome discouragement by evaluating the cause and seeking help to address it.

Criticism, even when harshly given, provides growth benefits if we are able to see them in this way. Instead of “reacting,” we need to “act” appropriately as a spiritual leader.

Genuineness #1

People seek a leader who is genuine, or authentic.

Several hindrances challenge the genuineness of a leader, most of which stem from self: personal agenda, money, power, position, etc.

These areas do not mean an individual cannot be genuine. However, they do hinder the development of genuineness.

How can genuineness in leadership improve?

1) Think about the influence of your words and actions before you speak or act.

2) Use knowledge, commitment, and ability to lay the foundation for decisions and actions.

3) Deliver honest criticism in a spirit of love and concern for the well being of others.

Power of Positive Thinking

The concept of positive thinking is not new for anyone. However, developing the mind of leadership requires us to consider the influence of our attitude on everyone around us.

Sadly, at some point we will deal with those who are critical and negative. They look for ways to put others down or criticize. We could spend several posts to discuss why, but that is not the point.

We must remember to utilize our strength and courage to believe in ourselves and use negativity or criticism in a way that becomes positive in an effort to achieve our plans.

This characterizes the power of our leadership.

Power of Praise

Criticism is part of life. We are criticized for job performance, choice of clothes, friends, use of money, etc.

Criticism can be negative or positive. How we use it is critical to the formation of our leadership.

Robert Collier said, “Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement — and we will make the goal.”

Consider the difference a little praise and encouragement makes. Whether family, friends, co-workers, or people met on a day-to-day basis, if we learn to be less critical of others and provide a bit of praise or encouragement, we might be surprised at the difference in leading them to greater success.