The Truth Can Be Hurtful

A coaching client of mine recently had an experience that brought back to me a frequently-forgotten but basic truth. This client (let’s call her Ellen) has been coaching with me for about a year. But last week when she came in, she was emotionally distraught and clearly distracted. She explained that something had happened between…

How to Receive Feedback – Part Two

A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. -David Brinkley This post is about receiving negative feedback or making receiving criticism a positive experience. For ease of discussion, let’s say there are two types of feedback: positive feedback when you are told…

How to Receive Feedback – Part One

Winston Churchill recognized the importance of criticism when he said, “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than…