Fear

Carla Cardoso

The 9:30 am meeting had begun. Mr Y was speaking with a breadcrumb (from breakfast?) sitting right at the corner of his mouth. The breadcrumb was hypnotic; everyone, more or less discreetly, kept looking at it. An hour and a half later, the meeting ended, and the breadcrumb was still stoically balanced in exactly the same place, much to the amusement of the spectators.

It may be a breadcrumb or a typo in an official document. In 99.9% of cases, people notice the mistake, the oversight or the flaw, but nothing is done about it. Sometimes out of laziness, but more often for fear of hurting someone's feelings, of appearing critical or of making someone look ridiculous. The truth is that people generally react badly when confronted with something less than positive.

This difficulty in offering constructive criticism—and in accepting it—has consequences. It allows mistakes to persist, prevents learning and hinders progress. Seeing what is wrong, turning a blind eye and allowing it to continue serves no one well. It is neither an act of friendship nor of loyalty. Allowing someone to keep saying "go against" when they actually mean "move towards" only ensures they keep colliding when their intention is to draw closer.

No one can correct what they do not know is wrong. But there is fear of hurting others. And fear of being hurt.

Fear.

And everything comes to a standstill.

Carla Rodrigues Cardoso
Associate Professor (ECATI)
Scientific Coordinator of MagLab (CICANT)
Lusófona University - Lisbon University Centre