It’s the 25th anniversary this season of the ’85 Chicago Bears Superbowl season. I thought I would post a bit of leadership wisdom from a member of that illustrious team.Steve McMichael, nicknamed Mongo, was a defensive tackle for the Bears and until a couple weeks ago he held the franchise record for games played for the Bears. He had close to 100 sacks as a defensive tackle which is pretty impressive.I heard him on a radio interview about six months ago and he provided this soundbite:
“When you answer your critics they matter.”
I don’t believe this to be 100% true all of the time. There’s times where silence and ignoring the rise of dissension and opposition around you only leads to increased anxiety and increased fanaticism among critics.
That being said, when you spend your time reacting to critics you end up allowing them to dictate your leadership and how you are going to do your job. Sometimes you should listen to the critics. Sometimes you shouldn’t. I can’t help thinking that what causes some leaders to stand out over others is that they can tell the difference between what they should listen to and what they shouldn’t.
McMichael is mostly referring to a select group of people that many in my generation and younger would best describe as “haters.” The people that want to see you fail. I don’t meet many of these in ministry (my profession), which is a good thing, but there is a ministry version of them. It’s those that want to see you lose influence because they have a philosophical difference with how you see things or how you go about relationships or how you do your business. And regarding these people, I agree with Mongo. We can’t afford to lead in ways that makes these people matter more than they do.
Navigating critics takes character, emotional maturity, skill, and a philosophical framework of where the voice of the critic fits in your leadership paradigm. I hope this gets you thinking about where critics stand in your paradigm and where stand in your ability to navigate them maturely and wisely.
How do you walk the line of identifying voices of wisdom in the crowd and guarding yourself against the toxic wave of anxiety that comes from people that will seek to tear you down to build themselves up?
For other elements of wisdom from the ’85 Bears check out Mike Ditka’s insights on encouraging your people.
