The Truth About Criticism

I'd like to ship you a free copy of my book Habits of High Performers. If you come and join the 2026 goal setting workshop, I will ship you one of these today. The link is in the notes. Please come and join me to set up the very best 2026 you could imagine. If you've set up goals in the past or New Year's resolutions and they haven't substantiated, I'm here to help you across all the key pillars of your life nail your goals. I'll see you there. Welcome to Lead on Purpose. I'm James Laughlin, former seven time world champion musician and now executive coach to global leaders and high performers. Each week I'll publish a solo cast where I'll share my top high performance habits and methodologies to supercharge your life and career. If you enjoy the show, please take a short moment to subscribe and leave a rating and review. I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to connect today and investing in yourself. Enjoy the show.

So today I want to talk to you about constructive criticism. Have you ever had anyone say, hey, can I please give you some feedback? Can I please give you some constructive criticism? I bet you have. I mean, if you've been living in this world for any length of time, then somebody has wanted to give you their feedback, their thoughts, their ideas, their insights. Right? Now, sometimes that can be incredibly valuable, but other times it can be really unuseful. So I want you to think about what is my filter for receiving feedback? Because we all have to receive it. Yes, we do. There's no getting away from receiving feedback, but you can pick and choose as to who you let in to give you that feedback. Sometimes your family are the best people to give you the feedback. Sometimes they're the worst, right? But over the years, you know, whether I'm working with professional athletes, whether I'm working with people who are running companies or leading organizations, I'm always thinking about what kind of feedback are they receiving day in, day out, who's giving it to them? You know, are they qualified to actually give them that feedback? And here's something that I share with them and I want to share it with you. This is one nugget that I always, always double down on with my clients. But I want to share it with you today because I think it will be really helpful and hopefully useful at the end of the day. You know, when we look at tools to help us in the world or to lead, they're either useful or they're not. It's one or the other. So I like that term. Useful around, hey, how can we make some simple little model really useful for us? So here's an example. Recently, someone came to me and said, james, can I give you some constructive criticism on your podcast? I'm like, absolutely. But first, before you do that, can you please just give me a little bit of your background? I don't know you. I've never met you before. So tell me about your, you know, your experience, experience with podcasts, how many years you've ran your podcast for what genre your podcast is in. Have you had any rankings? Are you in the top 20, top 100, top one on Spotify or Apple? Tell me about some of your guests and your ratings and reviews. Tell me a wee bit about that first. So they're starting to become a little uncomfortable as I'm asking them, just for a bit of background and context. And as we go through the conversation, we get to the end and they go, yeah, so, James, I don't have a podcast. I've never recorded one episode. I just listen to podcasts. And I want to give you some constructive criticism. And I want you to think for a minute, what would be the best thing to do there? Well, be polite and say, okay, yeah, I'm all ears. But do you take that feedback in? Well, I always believe you've got to qualify the people and that are giving you feedback. Now, I would say, has that person successfully constructed what they're criticizing? Please write that down. Think about that. The person that wants to give you feedback, have they successfully constructed what they're criticizing? And if they haven't, it's time for them to move politely on. Let's talk about the weather, let's talk about something else. But let's not talk about the thing that you're criticizing because you haven't actually stood in the arena. In life, in business, and in sport, there are a lot of commentators, people on the sidelines shouting out what they think. It's not your job or responsibility to listen to them. If you want input, seek input from people who've walked the walk. I call great leaders walkers. And I often say, is that person a walker? Hey, are you a walker? What do you mean by that? Do you walk the walk? Do you actually walk the leadership walk? Do you do the work? Do you sweep the sheds? So the next time someone asks you, hey, can I give you some feedback? Stop them first and say, hey, absolutely. But first, can I just ask, you know, what's your background? What's your experience? And if you quickly realize they have no experience or they're just a commentator, try and shift the conversation. There may be something of value to learn. Great. But there's a high chance it may just be a commentator. Now, on the other hand, I had someone reach out to me who's got one of the best podcasts on the planet and has been ranked in the top five of all podcasts on the planet, said James. Hey, I've got a few things you could try. I think it would really help. What did you think I did instantly? Hell, yeah. I reached for pen and paper. Absolutely. When someone who's a walker comes into your life and gives you feedback, you listen, you take notes, and you take action. That's as simple as that. If you want to grow, getting great people around you who've actually walked the thing that they're talking about, that's just invaluable. And that's why it's great to have coaches, mentors, you know, people who are just that bit further down the track than you. It's so valuable. But I want you to think, you know to yourself, what has happened in the last month? Have you had people want to reach out and give you constructive criticism? Why don't you, just for a moment, as you're. Whether you're listening to this on Apple or Spotify or you're watching this here on YouTube, I want you just to think for a moment, when was the last time I heard that from someone wanting to give me that feedback? And now when I look back, was that person qualified to give me the feedback? Look, I hope today, this little short session, this little snippet, has served you and landed with you at the right time. What I'm challenging you to think about here is please be careful who you let into your inner circle. Make sure you qualify them first. Don't listen to everybody. Everyone's got an opinion, but very few people are walkers. But for now, please get out there and lead your life on purpose.

Thanks for tuning in today and investing in your own personal leadership. Please hit that subscribe button and I'd love if you leave me a rating and review. I've got some amazing guests lined up for you in the coming weeks and leaders, it's that time to get out there and lead your life on purpose.