When you take a stand people will run into you. There are people who disliked Mother Theresa? If that’s not proof that everyone will have a critic then I don’t know what is. The video below is of Steve Jobs getting ripped on by a member of the audience and his response to the criticism. Below the video are the # steps you should take when you get criticized or insulted. Apparently Jobs wasn’t always this kind to those around him but on this occasion the criticism was handled masterfully.
Here are Steve Jobs’ eight steps to respond to criticism…
- (:35-:59) Stop and collect your thoughts.
- (1:08) Agree with them. Tell the other person that you do agree with them in some areas.
- (1:33) Offer a bigger picture. Steve Jobs does this masterfully. He talks about the much bigger picture that he and his team are working on. This makes the conversation shift from the complaint about a specific product to the bigger picture of running a company or creating a movement.
- (2:08) Admit you’re not perfect. This disarms your attacker. You’re admitting to what they’re accusing you of. You’re not perfect.
- (2:31) Don’t react to the anger, respond to the issue. You know if you’re reacting if you skipped the first four steps and just start talking. Reacting means you match or go above their level of anger. Reacting escalates the tension.
- (3:53) Sincerely apologize. Jobs says he’s sorry that Open Doc is a casualty.
- (4:33) Defend the vision, not yourself. Jobs says that mistakes will be made but it’s part of a larger vision.
- (5:14) Remain optimistic. It’s hard to get mad at optimists. People like optimists.
Here’s the first video that sets up the conflict:
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I think it’s worth noting that Jobs doesn’t let the mission get obscured by the criticism or the critics. It goes along with step #3. He obviously has a clear vision of where he and Apple are going and doesn’t get mired in petty arguments with critics. He does respond tactfully, but he doesn’t get off track. Thanks for sharing, Andy.