How to benefit from criticism: Hillary Clinton's Council

ABOUT TIPS ABOUT HOW TO BUILD A CAREER AND SUCCESS in the professional field, easy to get lost. In the new section, we propose to focus on the advice of famous people and explain why they should listen. In the new issue, we turned to the recommendations of the former US Secretary of State, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and discuss how to put her advice into practice.

Thanks to the criticism, you can learn something new, but you cannot let it destroy you.

Hillary Clinton is one of the most influential women in world politics, having passed a long career path. Politics still remains the traditionally “masculine” sphere, and Hillary knows firsthand what difficulties women politicians face. Two years ago, at the Women in the World Summit, she gave a joint interview with Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, where she spoke about double standards for men and women, about her experience and gave some tips. One of them concerned how women should accept criticism.

“Many women treat themselves more severely than circumstances require. They underestimate themselves. Too often, they take criticism to heart rather than just taking it seriously,” Clinton said. “You need to take criticism seriously because You can learn something new, but you cannot let it destroy you. You must be very hardy to keep moving forward, despite all the obstacles and even insults you may encounter on your way. For this you need to be treated with with death, to themselves and others - believe me, this advice was given to me with great effort, but it's all part of a larger process. ".

We have already told you how constructive, reasoned and relevant criticism differs from “going personal” and the comments that a person makes on a wave of negative emotions — seeing the difference between them is important not only for those who want to comment, but also for those accepts the remark. And if it is clear how to act in the case of unjustified criticism (try not to pay attention, no matter how difficult it may be), then in the case of constructive advice everything is not so obvious.

In response to criticism, I most often want to start defending myself and denying everything. But instead, it is better to be more open, ask additional questions in order to better understand the position of another person, and ask how, in his opinion, the situation could be improved. Even if you do not agree with this opinion and are not going to follow the advice, it will show that you respect someone else’s position and are ready to at least listen to it. If you do not understand whether the comment that you were given is objective, consult with friends, relatives or colleagues whose opinion you trust. If several people express similar opinions, this is a reason to think.

It is important not to take criticism to heart and understand that a lack or mistake in work does not make you a poor specialist and non-professional, and people who make a constructive comment do not want you to be evil. You should not concentrate on negative emotions - when they settle down, try to draw conclusions from the comments of other people and rethink them in a positive way. Even constructive comments may sound insulting (annoyingly to understand that work, in which we have invested a lot of energy and strength, has flaws), but they definitely will do more good than words of people who do not want to offend you and therefore praise work, keeping silent about its obvious flaws.

Illustration: Dasha Chertanova