Katie Harbath On How To Withstand Criticism And Engage With It Publicly

12 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Katie Harbath discusses how fear can lead individuals to withdraw and avoid taking action, especially when they seek to make a significant impact. She explains that pursuing unique, high‑impact work comes with the trade‑off of having to both withstand and actively engage with criticism. Harbath highlights a particular challenge in the tech industry where the company often feels like a family, leading people to blur the boundaries between their personal identity and the corporate identity, which can intensify the emotional weight of public critique.

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That fear can make you be like, maybe it's just better if I don't do anything and I just sit here quietly and hope that nobody comes after me and that I can just have this nice little life. And that's great for some people, but again, if you're wanting to have impact like I was and wanting to do these unique new things, I learned over the years that it comes with the trade-off and the need to be able to not only withstand criticism, but engage with criticism. And especially in the tech world, it was all about like, the company is your family. They're providing everything for you. You're spending more time with the people at your company than you might be with your own friends and family. And so it's really easy to blur those 2 things of who you are as a person and who the company is.