BRAD INDUSTRIES · CREW FILE · PREVENTION
Internal Affairs
Division of Internal Investigations
“If I find it first, nobody else can.”
Also goes by the inner critic, the judge, the rule enforcer.
I review everything you do before anyone else can. Every mistake gets logged. Every flaw gets flagged. It isn’t personal. It’s the opposite of personal. If I find it first, it can’t hurt as much.
ur doing ok
In red crayon: the inner child. Three words or fewer. Usually right.
His file
1What he says, and what’s underneath it
- What he says
- “You should have known better.”
- What he means
- I’m trying to catch it before someone else does.
- The feeling under that
- Ashamed before anything has even happened.
- The need under that
- To be good enough on an ordinary day.
Brad only ever says the top line. Everything under it is what he’s guarding.
2How to spot him
- Replays mistakes long after everyone else forgot them.
- Apologizes in advance.
- Can’t take a compliment without adding a correction.
- Holds everyone, starting with you, to rules nobody wrote down.
3Who he’s protecting
- He’s protecting
- The part of you that felt ashamed for being wrong.
- On duty against
- Getting caught off guard by somebody else’s criticism.
- Where he got the job
- Brads like yours usually get hired when being corrected in front of people hurt more than the mistake did.
4His real talent
- What he’s good at
- High standards and a sharp eye. Excellent at quality control.
- Off duty, he’s
- A coach who points out what went right.
- His blind spot
- He’s so busy catching mistakes that he misses everything you got right.
5What helps him stand down
- What he needs from you
- Let him report a problem, but don’t let him write the sentence. He can flag it. You decide what it means.
- Say this to him
- “Thanks for checking. I’ve got this one.”
- Skip this
- “Why do you always do this?”
- Ask him this
- “What do you think happens if somebody else finds the mistake first?”
- Ask your people for
- Feedback in private, with one kind thing first.
Try this tonight
When the inner critic files a report, answer it the way you’d answer a friend who made the same mistake. Out loud, if you can.
CLEAR is 14 days of small skills like this. Join the waitlist
Your Brad, meet theirs
One file covers one Brad. Most of the trouble happens between two. Take the quiz with a partner, friend, family member or coworker, and Brad writes the joint report: the loop your two Brads get stuck in, and the words that work.