Does Fear of Criticism Hold You Back ? You Are Certainly Not Alone

Does Fear of Criticism Hold You Back? Over the last year, I’ve been working with a thoughtful, wise, and quietly competent leader—we’ll call her San. Now, San is the kind of professional we all want on our team: Clear-headed Mission-driven Will-do-whatever-it-takes (without complaining about the Wi-Fi) Peers admire her Bosses adore her Honestly, she could teach a course on how to be "that" person who gets things done and still remembers your birthday. But every now and then... she’d quietly step back . No, it was subtler—more like the whisper of a hesitant foot on the brakes. San avoided situations where there was even the faintest risk of being misunderstood or judged harshly. But if a situation felt like it might even sniff of criticism? Her inner compass said: “Abort mission.” The Invisible Edge It’s that almost imperceptible boundary where clarity and commitment meet a strange, quiet hesitation. A pl...