Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

I just love this quote from President Theodore Roosevelt. 

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I shared this before. But as I read it recently, it hit me a different way.

Yes, we must push forward and execute. And we will stumble. But we must get up and work on.

But now I read this as a reminder to the critic within all of us. Yes, we will sometimes need to give critical feedback to colleagues.

But we must respect the arena and the men and women within in it.  Critique without respect will fall short.

Respect the arena.