“I make mistakes. I’ll be the second to admit it.”
– Jean Kerr, American playwright
“…. people around us may tend to collude with our denial. Among the more difficult kinds of information to get in organizational life is honest, constructive feedback about how we are doing, especially about our lapses. Coworkers, subordinates, and bosses have an easier time complaining to each other out of earshot of a person than having an honest and open talk with that person about what’s wrong. There is a Faustian bargain in this collusion to act as though everything is fine when in fact it is not, for we buy the illusion of harmony and effectiveness at the cost of the truth that could open the way to genuine improvement.”
– Daniel Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence
“The major difference between the most and least successful executives … the latter’s lack of awareness. Successful executives are critical of their own performance. Unsuccessful executives are critical of the performance of others.”
– Harry Levinson, The Exceptional Executive
“Hearing ‘reflective backtalk’ from friends, colleagues, spouses, and significant others allows us to ‘true’ ourselves in relation to their perceptions. With this input we can integrate our internal conversations with data from the external world to enrich the process of knowing ourselves better.”
– Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith, Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader
“If one or two people tell you that you’re an ass, you can ignore them. But if three or four people tell you you’re an ass, you might think about putting on a saddle.”
– Yiddish saying
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