About a decade ago, I was in Mussoorie (at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration) during the training program for senior Civil Servants.
During one of the sessions, a guest speaker gave a talk that was critical of the bureaucracy and suggested some improvements. But the trainee IAS officers were incensed — they vehemently challenged the speaker and corrected his ‘misunderstanding.’
After the speaker left, a senior IAS officer running the program sarcastically told the trainees, “I saw how keen you were to correct the speaker — I know you care a lot about helping him improve. But sometimes, let us be selfish — let us try to improve ourselves rather than others.” 😊
I confess, I also often want to “improve others,” because “I am perfect as I am, while everybody else needs to improve.” 😁
The truth is that accepting criticism is hard. Yet, that is the starting point for any progress. In my startup life, I have often heard advice/questions that I wish I had listened to. But my ego was too strong.
We don’t need to always agree because not all criticism is valid (or even well-intentioned). But if we don’t listen, how will we know?
Listening is not a favour to others — it is for ourselves.
For once, let us be very selfish.
– Rajan