straight away... I may be making a mistake, but I think he is a
good man. I am not so sure that he isn’t a saintly man. I just don’t
know. But make no mistake about this... Billy Graham is a
remarkable man.”
Amid the crusade frenzy, Billy also sent a brief note to William
Conner, who had harshly criticized him in the Daily Mirrornews-
paper. He diplomatically complimented Conner: “While your arti-
cles about me were not entirely sympathetic, they were two of
the most cleverly written that I have ever read.”
He offered to meet Conner, who accepted and impishly sug-
gested they meet at a pub called “Baptist’s Head.” Following the
meeting Conner said, “I never thought that friendliness had such
a sharp, cutting edge. I never thought that simplicity could cud-
gel a sinner so damned hard. We live and we learn.... The bloke
means everything he says.”
In assessing Billy’s approach to handling criticism, Lon Allison
observed, “His seemingly preferred mode is to go directly to the
people causing him the most pain and basically say, ‘Teach me.’”
LEADERSHIP
LESSONS | Critics
Applying the Principles
Fred Smith, who has been a mentor to countless leaders, advises,
“Turn your critics into coaches.” His point: all of us need all the
insights we can get about ourselves and our challenges, and if we
look at our critics as sources of insight, we can leverage even
painful and mean-spirited critiques.
Critics can sharpen the mind, clarify parameters. They can
force us to evaluate what we really believe about ourselves and
our mission. How we respond to critics reveals a lot about our
sense of calling and our composure.
As Thomas à Kempis observed six hundred years ago: “It is
good that we at times endure opposition and that we are evilly
and untruly judged when our actions and intentions are good.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham