The Wise, the Fool, the Bad

Dr. Henry Cloud, a clinical psychologist and best-selling author, described three categories of people.  Each of us have some element of each of these categories within our own personality but one of the categories tend to reveal itself most in each of us as we live and interact with others.

• Wise - Welcomes feedback and being confronted.  They adjust to make truth match reality.  They can be taught, coached and challenged.
• Fools - Feedback causes anger and leads to making the messenger the problem instead of naming the actual problem. They adjust the truth & reality to match themselves.  They create hopelessness with others.
• Bad - They just want to inflict pain. Destruction is in their heart.  Problems are solved with lawyers, guns, and money.

It has helped me to understand and identify how I respond to others in one of these three categories.Just as importantly, it has helped me to understand and identify how to respond to others I interact with who react in one of the three categories.

• Wise people need to be matched and paired with their gifts and abilities and given good feedback that is challenging.
• Talk is cheap with Fools. Just stop talking and address their pattern of behaviors.  Limit your exposure to them and give them a choice and name the consequences of each choice.
• With Bad people, run. Let them go and move on. Just stay away.

The point of all this helped me address the following statement that was made by Dr. Cloud.   

"Don't let someone's character stop your mission."

*These are notes taken from the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit