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.

The Next President of The United States

What role does humility play in a race for the White House? Does the average voter care if a candidate is overly cocky and conceited and lacks humility? Do the two very important characteristics of genuineness and authenticity require that humility be detectable? People want a president who is strong and confident but there is a point at which strength becomes meanness and confidence becomes arrogance. That line is crossed when humility is tossed aside as unimportant. Here is my prediction. Regardless of the selections Obama and McCain make for vice-presidential running mates, Americans will elect the man who maintains a level of humility that is respectable and appropriate. We admire the quality of humility in our powerful leadership. We want politicians to remember their roots and keep pride in check. We want them to remember the voters who put them in office and to accept their daily responsibilities with humbleness. We are offended when they get puffed- up and make decisions without regard to those whom they represent. We have seen far too many politicians move from nobleness to rottenness, from statesman-like to reprobate-like , and from estimable to egotistical. We fully realize that the man who shows no signs of humility during an election campaign, will not demonstrate humility later in the oval office. Past presidential elections have been won by the candidate who was the most humble. The same will happen this year. Watch the Democrat and Republican nominees from the conventions, through the debates, to the day we all go to the polls. The man who through it all is the most deficient in humility will be the man who loses. The next president of the United States will be . . . the one most humble.