by Tony Schwartz in Harvard Business Review
The problem with criticism is that it challenges our sense of value. Criticism implies judgment and we all recoil from feeling judged. As Daniel Goleman has noted, threats to our esteem in the eyes of others are so potent they can literally feel like threats to our very survival.
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The third mistake we make is to assume that we’re right about whatever it is we’re inclined to say. Like lawyers, we take a series of facts and weave them together into a story that supports and justifies the case we’re seeking to make. The problem is that our stories aren’t necessarily true. They’re simply one interpretation of the facts.
More here https://hbr.org/2011/11/theres-no-such-thing-as-constr
Know Thyself 