6. Human nature.
It is instinctive for people to focus on the negative instead of the positive. Author, speaker and teacher Howard Hendricks uses the following illustration and group exercise to demonstrate human nature. He asks students to write comments about a proposed wheelbarrow design:
Most people respond with negative criticisms of the design, e.g. wheel too small, handle too short, won’t hold much. It is human nature to criticize, to focus on flaws and denigrate new ideas like Activity Based Costing. Ask your critic to list three things they like about ABM/ABC. If they refuse, find out why. If they can’t articulate the reasons, educate them.
