Bruno's Web Tip

Bruno Gideon is a regular columnist for the SCCC website. Bruno will share some of his wisdom with our readers by giving useful tips for everyday life and practical advice for today’s entrepreneurs.

Bruno will also love to hear back from our readers by e-mail.

 

 

 

The road to ruin, don't take it!

I have seen it many times. Influential and financially independent people enjoying their lifestyle and then something happens and they lose it all. Each one of these cases disturbed me. I kept asking myself what went wrong and always got the same answer: they lost their ground. What do I mean by losing their ground?

Becoming so convinced of their success, their achievements, and their personality that they think of themselves as being invincible. Think of Napoleon, the super-ego.

If they would have accepted critique from their friends, their family, or even their enemies and taken it seriously, they would have been warned of their risky behavior. But their feeling of superiority and their inflated ego prevented them from accepting critique.

In my long life I have learned that the secret to success lies in our ability not only to accept critique, but to ask for it! Accepting critique allows us to correct our mistakes, often before we make them. But if we close our mind and discourage others from criticizing us, we will pay a high price: clouded judgment, a string of bad decisions, an ego that is out of control and lots and lots of stress that could easily have been avoided.

There are so many examples in today's life from people that are convinced that they would never be caught or companies that fell from superiority to insignificance. Think of Madoff, Enron, Pan Am, Lehman Brothers, TWA, CompuServe, and the list goes on and on.

But be careful, this relates not only to the rich and famous, but also to normal people like you and me. It has never been more important to accept critique as now, in a difficult world.

How are you dealing with criticism?