A year ago I had a week where I found myself under fire. When I look back I realised that it happened for a reason.

The previous few months had been spent planning and making tweaks in direction.  

When we were happy testing things we scaled up what we'd been doing and that was when I was hit by both the critics and the grateful.

All that had happened was we'd stepped up and when we stepped up it asked the people around us to do the same. 

Some people were ready for the change and welcomed it and made thankful signals. Others didn't like it and became critical. 

To be fair, I'm happy whatever the outcome. We're in the business of helping people. Some of those people grow with us, others grow because of us highlighting something useful... if they want to see it.

But I don't want to be arrogant here. Criticism is valuable. It's worth looking at to see if it's justified - and it's worth putting your ego away for that and making sure you feel no resentment to the critics.

Back in my customer service management days I used to thank customers who complained. They gave us opportunities to learn and spoke their truth. The customers who left and didn't say a word, taught us little.  

It's also worth understand the people who criticise you may be expressing their personal pain too - perhaps your product or service has changed and they can no longer get what they used to get from you and that may upset them.

The main question for you to consider is if the changes are beneficial to a significant amount of people. 

Neil