Praise or criticism

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Proverbs 9:8 At a networking function a few years ago, the developer of a product related an incident where he was offered feedback. The person giving the feedback asked the developer if he wanted praise or the truth. The implication was both daunting and clear: do you want me to tell you how great the product is, or do you want me to be honest? The developer of the product responded that he wanted the truth. Then, he said, he braced himself for …
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Learning to walk

We have met the enemy and it is us. The comic strip Pogo Walt Kelly 1913 – 1973 Some time ago, I was in the presence of a year-old child who was learning to walk. Watching a child going through this process can be fairly entertaining, since they have very little control at first. But they’re always eager to learn. She would take a few tentative steps and then either sit down or fall down. Everyone would clap, laugh and offer words of encouragement. When the child fell, someone would help her back to her feet and she would try …
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Learning from Koko

We can believe what we choose. We are responsible for what we choose to believe. Cardinal John Newman 1801 – 1890 Are you good at deflecting blame? Do you act like Koko? Koko was a very famous gorilla. Her most notable claim to fame was the fact that she mastered over 1,000 words in American Sign Language: in other words, she had the ability to communicate with humans using sign language. One day she accidentally broke one of her toys. The incident was captured on video, so there was no question what had occurred. The next day, when her trainer …
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