Listen To Your Critics

It is not only okay to listen to your critics, it is wise to do so. There are many things which benefit you to hear that you will never hear from friends and supporters. Valuable things. Friends won’t tell you that your breathe stinks, that your ideas stink, or that your advisors stink. They may not even tell you that your fly is open. Those are things your critics don’t mind telling you. You could be about to make a disastrous decision and not know it if you only listen to friends. I have known commanding officers who were so intent on hearing only positive feedback that they were eventually caught off guard by reality.

The kingdom of Israel was divided into Israel and Judah because Solomon’s son Rehoboam would not listen. “But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him.” (1 Kings 12:8) Balaam learned that good advice comes sometimes from a donkey. (Numbers 22:22-33) Solomon’s wisdom tells us, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22) To get one point of view you only need one counselor. If everyone to whom you listen agrees with you, there has been very little counsel received. Only after you have heard many counselors with both positive and critical advice, are you prepared to make the best decision.

It is pride that gets in the way of good decision making. Pride wants to ignore the complainer, attacker, disputer, doubter, commentator, and pundit. Humility allows the words of even the harshest opponent to stand beside words from friends and make their claim. Humility judges the words on their merit, not upon who delivered them or how they were delivered. Pride can’t do that. Pride resists recommendations that conflict with one’s own pet opinions. That resistance can sometimes be one’s downfall. Humility is not afraid to agree with what was initially unthinkable. It is the humble mind that is open and the prideful one that is closed. My prayer is that our President and both political parties in both houses of Congress will be humble in their decision making. Only then do Americans stand a chance of reaping the results of the wisest decisions coming from Washington.