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8/4/07
What's So Special About Consistency?
8/3/07
Saturday, August 4, 2007
12:37:00 PM EDT
Before writing The Secret Handshake, I interviewed Ann Lewis, adviser to Hillary Clinton on her bid for the presidency. Ann told me this about handling criticism: "I never second-guess myself... I wasn't raised that way. I don't dwell on things like that. If I make a mistake, I learn from it and move on."
Running about worrying whether what you say today as a candidate is identical to what you said last year is a waste of time. Surely none of us should be contradicting ourselves on a regular basis, but we should be learning. It is the basis for change. Otherwise we'd all be stuck in a time warp, predictable, but unproductive.
It is natural for us to prefer consistency from people. Most relationships rely on it. But it is also the reason why many fail -- being consistently boring, wrong, rude, insensitive, etc. More important by far is having a set of values that inform our decisions. Those at times conflict. Honesty, for example, may run counter to loyalty at times. It isn't how we acted in the past that should inform us of what to do under such circumstances in the present, but rather if what we intend to do emanates from what we truly value. That standard shows how cheap consistency can be.
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12:37:00 PM EDT
What's So Special About Consistency?
Before writing The Secret Handshake, I interviewed Ann Lewis, adviser to Hillary Clinton on her bid for the presidency. Ann told me this about handling criticism: "I never second-guess myself... I wasn't raised that way. I don't dwell on things like that. If I make a mistake, I learn from it and move on."
Running about worrying whether what you say today as a candidate is identical to what you said last year is a waste of time. Surely none of us should be contradicting ourselves on a regular basis, but we should be learning. It is the basis for change. Otherwise we'd all be stuck in a time warp, predictable, but unproductive.
It is natural for us to prefer consistency from people. Most relationships rely on it. But it is also the reason why many fail -- being consistently boring, wrong, rude, insensitive, etc. More important by far is having a set of values that inform our decisions. Those at times conflict. Honesty, for example, may run counter to loyalty at times. It isn't how we acted in the past that should inform us of what to do under such circumstances in the present, but rather if what we intend to do emanates from what we truly value. That standard shows how cheap consistency can be.
Written by docreardon Blog about this entry |
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