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The Art of Criticism
11 Plays4 years ago
In this week's episode, I discussed the art of criticism. I believe criticism can help expand your view of your work, ideas and yourself when given correctly. I give tips on how to receive and give criticism.
Recommended Resource: The Power of Positive Criticism by Hendrie Weisinger Ph.D. https://amzn.to/2Iw7qrH
The Innovative Power of Criticism by The Harvard Business http://bit.ly/2wpR7Kb
If you want to send me an email you can email me at [email protected] instagram.com/elianeanita
twitter.com/elianeanita
facebook.com/elianeanitashow
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Recorded, Produced and Edited by Éliane Anita
Track Produced by Devo Beats
This is a Relevant Media production and Podcast
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Transcript
Introduction: The Art of Criticism
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Eliana Nita podcast, the podcast created to inform, challenge and empower you. Now let's get down to business.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hi guys, welcome to the Alien Made a podcast. I'm your host, Alien, and I'm so excited to have you join me for this week's podcast. This week, I am going to talk to you about the subject of the art of criticism. Most people tend to think that criticism is a bad thing. We live in a hypersensitive era and everybody is extremely,
00:00:47
Speaker
hypersensitive as it pertains to criticism. Most times people think that you're hating on them when you just give them some constructive feedback or if you voice your opinion about something that's adverse to what they feel or think. What
Origin and Potential of Criticism
00:01:03
Speaker
people would come to find out is that most people are not hating on you. Most people really don't even think about you like that.
00:01:10
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in that way. And because we have such a culture of everybody feeling like, oh, this person is hating on me. It's hard to give constructive criticism and have it received with honor and respect. And so with this podcast, I want to talk about why criticism is important and how it can actually help you in your plight to be a better person and to be successful.
00:01:39
Speaker
So I like to believe that there is an art to criticism and many people think that criticism is just about telling people what's wrong and why it's wrong, but the truth is, is that it's so much more. Criticism is a tool that can have life-changing impacts if used correctly. Criticism comes from the Greek word krino and that is spelled k-r-i-n-o, which means able to judge, value, and interpret.
00:02:08
Speaker
One thing that I love about the definition, the Greek definition of criticism is it means able to value. And a lot of times we miss that in criticism and even how we present criticism to people.
00:02:24
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And especially
Clarifying What Criticism is Not
00:02:25
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when we receive in criticism, most of the time when people take the risk to give you some critique of some kind, they're taking a risk that you may receive it wrong and you may hate them afterwards.
00:02:39
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And so they are saying to you, hey, I value what's in you. So I want to help you sharpen and refine this. And a lot of times we miss that because we're always on a defensive edge. You know, a good idea can become a great idea with the right type of information and with the right kind of criticism. So I want to talk to you about what criticism is, what criticism isn't, how to give it and why criticism is necessary.
00:03:09
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First of all, let's talk
Constructive Criticism: What It Should Be
00:03:10
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about what criticism isn't. Criticism is not someone standing on their soapbox, pointing out flaws without solutions. Criticism should never leave you dull and vulnerable. Criticism does not focus on the person or the personality. A lot of times people get that Michigan screw because when they think about
00:03:31
Speaker
The person they are quick to sometimes people can be quick to criticize their work So if you already have a dislike or disdain for a person and then they put out a new project of whatever Whatever they're working on you're gonna immediately hate the project before you even see what it has to offer because you dislike the person so you have to learn how to separate the person from the work and
00:03:55
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and judge the work and not the person unless you're judging the person for whatever reason. Criticism isn't blame. It should not be to point out your flaws or place blame on you and say this is your fault, this is not my fault, you did this, I didn't do that or whatever. It should never be about blame.
00:04:17
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And the fifth and final thing is, and this is probably one of the most crucial points of criticism, is criticism is not to belittle or berate the person or thing on the receiving end. Now let's talk about what criticisms is.
00:04:33
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Criticisms should direct you to what's valuable. Criticism should offer solutions and not just the issue to the problem. Criticism should offer different perspectives. Criticism should always be done with love and respect for the person on the receiving end. And criticism should sharpen the person. And that person should walk away feeling empowered and ready to make the necessary changes they need to make.
00:05:01
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A good example
Case Study: Nest Thermostat and Innovation
00:05:02
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of good criticism looks like when the company, Nest, they make thermostats and they had an idea of what they thought would be good thermostats for their clients and their customers, but what they found out was that what they thought was a good idea that their customers hated.
00:05:22
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So their customers criticized what they did or criticized their products to the point that it sparked innovation within the company of Nest. And now Nest has one of the top ranked thermostats on the market today.
00:05:38
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because they listen to the criticisms and the critiques of their customers. They drew
How to Deliver Criticism Effectively
00:05:44
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from a criticism and they got innovation, which is what criticism should do. Now let's talk about how criticism should be given. You want to make sure that if you're on the given end of criticism, you want to ensure that your tone is correct. Sometimes it's not about what you say, it's how you say it.
00:06:06
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So if you're saying things in a mean and derogatory tone, they're not going to be received well. And nine times out of 10, the person is probably going to reject it. So you want to be sure that you are speaking in a way that respects the person's mind, respects their intelligence, respects their ideas, but also challenges them and pushes them to become better.
00:06:28
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You want to watch your body language as you present information to someone. You want to make sure that you're not being offensive in your body language because sometimes your face can tell what you think. The next thing you want to do is balance out the positives and the negatives. There has to be good with bad.
00:06:50
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You can't just criticize, criticize, criticize and not tell the person what they're doing right. Sometimes helping them see the things that they're doing right will lead them to a greater capacity of creativity and be able to receive what you're saying well.
00:07:07
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The next thing you want to do is give suggestions, not answers. Again, this is, if you're criticizing someone's idea or body of work, you want to remember that this is their idea and body of work. And you don't, you can't assume that you have the answers or you are the answer to what they need. In some cases you may be that, but in other cases you may not be.
00:07:31
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So you want to ensure that you give just your suggestions of what you think could be improved and better and not just give them their own give them their answers. Give enough information that will allow the person to make their own conclusions based off what you told them. The final thing is you want to remember the goal and why you're sharing this information.
00:07:53
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The goal should never be the ridicule and berate anyone. It should always
Why Criticism is Essential
00:07:58
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be to build them up and make them better. Let's talk about why criticism is necessary. If feedback is done correctly, you can receive wisdom and insight from different voices other than yourself or your small circle of influence.
00:08:14
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Let's say you're getting your annual review at work and you sit down with your supervisor and your supervisor gives you a list of things that you're great at, you're good at, and you're bad at. You may not necessarily see the things that you're just good at or even the things that you're bad at, but someone on the outside can see it.
00:08:32
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and they can offer you great feedback on how to improve and become a better employee or a better business owner or whatever it is that you do. So always reach for feedback and good criticism. Criticism can promote creativity. Sometimes it's not about what you do, it's how you do it. Your method or your product may be outdated. When you open yourself to criticism, you open yourself to creativity.
00:09:00
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Criticism inspires change. When you receive good criticism, it should inspire you to make changes. Criticism will show you your strengths and your weaknesses. Criticism should
Receiving Criticism Constructively
00:09:13
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be an examination with an explanation. And overall criticism will help you grow.
00:09:21
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The final thing I wanted to talk to you about is what to do with the criticism you receive. The first thing you want to do is accept it. Hopefully you're receiving criticism from people that love you and respect you and want to see you succeed. So you want to accept that they are giving you good information that will only help you become better.
00:09:44
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take your time to process through that information and accept even the hard stuff about yourself or about your idea or product. The next thing you want to do is ask questions. Ask how can I become better or ask for more details if it's something that you don't understand or you feel like, oh, I thought I was good at this or whatever. Ask as many questions as you possibly can because you
00:10:11
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Your goal is to be better and let this criticism make you better. The third thing you want to do is create a developmental plan. How are you going to take this information that you now have that you didn't have before and put it into action? And the last and final thing is ask for accountability.
00:10:32
Speaker
sometimes habits can be hard to break or things can be hard to change, but you wanna, if it's something that you really wanna change and really wanna make a difference in in your life, you wanna be sure that you have somebody in your corner that can tell you, hey, you're on, nope, you're off, okay, you're getting a little better, all right, come back over here or whatever, like, you wanna ensure that people are in your ear giving you the right kind of information to help you sustain
00:10:59
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change and take that criticism and put it to good use. I have
Recommended Resources on Positive Criticism
00:11:05
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two recommended resources for you. The first recommended resource is The Power of Positive Criticism and this is written by Henry Weisinger, PhD. It is a really, really good book and you can get it off Amazon. I will be sure to link it in the show descriptions.
00:11:26
Speaker
And the final one is an article by the Harvard Business Review and it is entitled, The Innovative Power of Criticism. So you will enjoy both of those resources. I think that it will really help you as you learn more about how to receive and even how to give criticisms.
00:11:46
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So
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:11:47
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I hope that this podcast gave you good information about what criticism is and isn't and how you can use it to make it work for you. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share with your friends and your family and your followers and all of that stuff.
00:12:02
Speaker
And please be sure to rate this podcast and let me know how you feel. Um, if you want to follow me, I am Eliana Anita on all of the platforms. So you can reach out to me on that. And also too, if you want to send me an email, you can send me an email at Eliana Anita show at gmail.com. I will link all of my stuff in the description blocks below. And as always be blessed and stay relevant.