Many years ago, a boss I had, got angry at me. It wasn’t just a passing one, but the type where the other person goes red in the face.
I was new to the team, yet to figure out its workings, and also tired from working literally 24×7.
But it wasn’t enough, and I was reprimanded constantly. Needless to say, I resigned from that job in about 6 months time.
Cut to today, and I don’t remember anything about why exactly I was scolded and picked on so much by that boss.
What were those 2-3 typos in the 100-deck presentation, or the slide sequence that he didn’t like, or the one tab in the excel sheet which was formatted slightly differently from the other 30? I have no recollection whatsoever.
Despite spending 6 months there (i.e. 6 months x 24 x 7), I cannot even remember what projects I worked on during that time – and there were many!
But one thing that keeps coming back? Those scenes of anger and finger-pointing. The humiliation I felt. The incompetence I felt. The inability of the other person to communicate well. It was all devastating.
The emotion remained, but the message disappeared. So is criticism really the answer? Continued tomorrow…