Are Your Critics Actually the Secret to Success?

Six years ago, as I prepared to launch my consulting business, I was fueled by the overwhelming support and validation I received from friends and family. Clearly I was onto something ... because everyone around me told me so.

But one night, just before my shingle was hung, I had a chat with a cynical uncle that gave me pause. “What if you don’t find clients?” he asked. “Or what if you find too many and you can’t juggle the work? Or you make a big mistake? Or there is too much competition out there?”

This conversation let the air out of my tires. But it's also the one that prompted me to sharpen and refine the business I ultimately launched. And by my standards, it’s absolutely been a success.

Cheerleading is great. But sometimes, it’s exactly the opposite we need to hear.

When you have an idea—a business, a product, or just something different you’d like to try at work—it’s natural to seek out supporters. We get a boost of confidence from everyone who's will tell us why our idea is a win. And cheerleading is great. But sometimes, it’s exactly the opposite we need to hear.

As the Harvard Business Review reports:

Avoiding negative feedback is both wrong-headed and dangerous. Wrong-headed because, when delivered the right way, at the right time, criticism is, in fact, highly motivating. Dangerous because without awareness of the mistakes he or she is making, no one can possibly improve.

So if you’re ready to bring an idea or an inkling from good to great, let’s talk about how you can find and harness the right critics to help you make it shine.

1. Find the right people 

Have you ever heard of the Segway? Invented in 2001, it was a brilliantly designed “self-balancing personal transporter.” Technologically, it was genius. And its inventor, Dean Kamen, brought it to market with gusto.

Game-changing though its design was, the product ultimately flopped. Why? Because, according to this Fast Company piece, “Nobody involved in the project ever really stepped back to ask whether consumers would be willing to spend a few thousand dollars to buy a product that helps them achieve a goal they can already satisfy for free. It would have been useful to have more people in the inner management team calling into question the core market assumptions at the basis of the business model....

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