In leadership you should IGNORE the criticism of those with INFLUENCE but INVITE the critique of the INFLUENTIAL.
EVERYONE has influence but NOT everyone is influential. There are times in leadership you have to ignore people of influence so you can invite the critique of the influential. A quick for instance, Starbucks shouldn’t listen to the voice of my wife. She HATES coffee. Hates! Hates the smell. Hates the taste. HATES! (not sure that word is strong enough for her feelings) Now, she has influence. She has friends. Family. Customers of her home based business. But she HATES coffee. No matter what Starbucks does, she will NEVER drink their coffee. Or ANY coffee. She has influence but she is NOT influential.
An influential person is invested. They too have family, friends, co-workers, etc. The difference is, they are bought in. They purchase the product. They support the cause. They volunteer in the event. They encourage, support, invest, love, care, and the list goes on. And this even bleeds into the church.
I have seen TOO MANY CHURCHES crippled by people of influence. People who LOVE to offer their criticism without investing into the cause. They don’t give. They don’t serve. They don’t encourage, invest, support or care. They just criticize. As one person put it, “The loudest critics usually come from the cheapest seats.” Leader…IGNORE THEM!
Seth Godin put it this way: If we’re going to do great work, it means that some people aren’t going to like it. And if the people who don’t like it don’t have an impact on what happens to the work after it’s complete, the only recourse of someone doing GREAT work is to IGNORE their opinion.
Dave Ramsey said this in his book EntreLeadershp: “You can count on criticism if you do anything of scale that matters. You can’t be afraid of criticism. It comes with the territory.” “Instead you should just count on someone not liking the call you make.” “…fear of gripes from do-nothing people or the opposition isn’t going to keep the EntreLeader from making the call.” “The more you do, the more someone will have something negative to say.”
And if you think this isn’t Biblical, here is what Nehemiah said, when people of influence were opposing him. Nehemiah 6:2b-3 But I realized they were plotting to harm me, 3 so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”
If they are influential? If they’ve shown that they care? That they’re invested? That they’re bought in? That they have the best interest of the CAUSE in mind and not just their CRITICISM? If they’ve been an encouragement? Then talk. Invite their critique. By all means allow the influential their input. But if all they’re going to do is criticize? IGNORE THEM!
