Criticism and career management

Reading a blogpost by Ernst Poulsen this morning about the new ‘design’ on the Danish School of Media and Journalism and the hopelessness of it, I started thinking about how much you can criticize somebody else without fear of retaliation later on in a career sense.

Ernst’s very valid point was that often we don’t criticize someone, because we think about what would happen if we met the same person later in life, where perhaps we were the ones looking for a favor. But is it the right way to think?

As I said, I can definately understand the point. And I won’t say I haven’t been guilty of withholding something in the past out of fear of the longterm consequences. But I still think it’s wrong - but you need to approach criticism the right way.

I think it’s super important that you keep it constructive. That you really say, why it is you think that the criticism is valid. If not for any other reason then to make it possible for yourself to admit, you were wrong (if it turns out you were) and make a gracious retreat.

The key word here is integrity. Because if you criticize with integrity, people may disagree, but most of them will still respect you for sticking with you gun. And in my experience respect and proven integrity are better drivers for long term opportunity than being spineless or scared.