The New Self-Help

The Best Leaders Don’t Praise or Rebuke

The ideal approach is also the most egalitarian

This story is part of The New Self-Help: 21 Books for a Better You in the 21st Century.

Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler are all considered giants in the development of modern psychology. Though Adler may be the least well known of the three, his approach is arguably the most transformative. Rather than probe the recesses of the human subconscious, Adler sought simple and straightforward answers to the philosophical question: How can one be happy?

The following is a distillation of one of Adler’s core teachings, taking the form of an imagined narrative dialogue between a philosopher and a young man.

Philosopher: Generally speaking, people tend to view the act of leadership as a choice between two approaches: to lead by rebuke, or to lead by praise. This dichotomy gets applied to all sorts of leadership situations, from training a junior employee to child-rearing. So, which do you think is the better choice: to rebuke or to praise?

Youth: In child-rearing, certainly praise.

Philosopher: Why?

Youth: Take animal training, for example. When teaching animals to do tricks, you can make…