Roy Den Hollander

1. Roy Den Hollander Human Behavior 97-IA
Dumb and Smarter
I am having difficulty with finding a situation in my life when my self-awareness and
confidence levels permitted me to accept the constructive input of others.
Generally -- no, consistently -- my defensive reasoning drives me to attack with criticism
(either overtly or covertly) the “harbinger of humiliation.” Clearly, I preserve my self-image of
competency by obviously using the evasive side of the analytical strength (critical) from my style
of “conserving-holding”. Many mistakes haunt my life, but in few do I admit my role, which
enables learning and in almost none do I accept suggestions from others that I incorporate into my
future actions. In a particular situation, I will go along with another’s suggestion just to finish the
task but not to incorporate the knowledge into my range of tools. Enough negativism, there is
one experience in which I learned and grew from the input of my boss.
Writing always scared me because I never had (and still do not have) the confidence of
being able to do it well. When I was appointed the chief writer, essentially the only writer, of a
weekend television news show in New York City, I realized I needed help. Perhaps that is why I
opened up to direction from my boss, the anchorman, who read what I wrote. Furthermore, my
boss never expressed strong disappointment over my errors. He knew the style of writing he
wanted, communicated that style clearly with many examples and expressed his frustration with
humor. More importantly he gave me praise when deserved. Over time, I ended up writing most
of the show and even enjoyed playing with words within the particular TV writing style I had
learned. The show won a local Emmy for writing that year.