These initial summary statements regarding the pull between resistance to receiving the negative feedback and curiosity regarding the content of this feedback can be framed as a polarity. Here is what my polarity-based deliberations might look like if mapped out on a polarity management chart:
With this framing completed, we turn to what happens when we try to maximize the benefits of either side at the expense of the other side. In my case, the maximization of resistance to the negative feedback would lead to a shutting down of all new learning. I would be self-fulfilling my self-image of someone who is too old to learn and would become less effective as a leader of my graduate school.
