Sandwich every bit of criticism in 2 layers of praise

When i first read this one liner, over 20 years ago, it appeared absurd, even funny. Because obviously, it was the natural thing to do, wasnt it? Why would anyone put it down as advice?

But the one liner stuck in the head. and later, it turned out to be one of the best pieces of advice i have heard and internalised. And like all elementary things that children do as a matter of course, i realised that a lot of adults do NOT do this. Over the years, from being a natural thing to do, it has become a conscious act of will, at times, even become a thing to be done for its own sake. But not once, has the advice failed one. It ALWAYS works.

1. The credibility of the review goes up. When a review has both pros and cons, a lot more people trust the review.


2. The person tends to not get defensive. This is the biggest advantage of this approach. Since you start with a compliment and end with another compliment, the receiver is not defensive. It helps.