Constructive criticism is essential and it’s vital that the recipient is open to it and can self-reflect. But, principled leadership suggests starting with a positive or some praise then addressing issues at hand directly and seeking solutions. Blatant criticism, or being too negative or snarky often isn’t the way to properly motivate. Maybe some receive it better than others, but it gets old as one poster said. Now, if a person does something really bad, then yes, address the matter with vigor right away, but that’s not the issue here. Improvement is needed and pushing people farther than they think they can go is important. I just do it differently at work and it works. Sorry, my take.
I work with millennials and Gen Z'ers on a daily basis. I teach them as a college professor. One thing they CRAVE without really ever knowing it is to be held accountable and held to a higher standard. Holding them to a standard and explaining to them it's because you know they have the capability is what really drives them to succeed.
I say that they don't ever really know they want discipline and being held accountable because secondary schools in the United States rarely push students anymore. It's all about getting the test scores to a level that reflects well on the district as a whole. The students become automatons, adept at reading and understanding a rubric but completely unprepared for the very real possibility of failure. When they greet failure for the first time it is often a mind-blowing and earth-shattering event for them. I have taught for a long time, long enough to recognize that this is a new phenomenon (within the past 10 years or so).
When they are told in critique and in class that they didn't take what was taught to them and apply it correctly they don't know what to do. They have been so fully trained to believe that if they simply work hard on something they should be handed a good grade. It is simply baffling to them to hear from an authority figure that hard work while important is also expected. The skills that they hone in class need to be applied outside of that setting. If they don't take the criticism and lessons they've learned and apply them to real-world scenarios they are in fact failing, despite their hard work.
Many innately understand this and appreciate that they need to hone skills, and not just do what they're supposed to do (ie - turn in the assignment). They end up appreciating the criticism because they understand in this context it's because you care about them deeply and have every expectation that they can get to a level that maybe they themselves didn't think they could get to. It's the ultimate form of tough love. This generation has almost never had this type of structure, teaching, and expectations put on them. When they realize that it comes from a place of love and caring they end up thoroughly enjoying the struggle and the production that comes from it.
I know that is a LONG winded read, but I felt the need to preface what I'm about to say with that.
Quincy knows why Boeheim gets on him, he knows why he uses the press conference to motivate him, and he understands why the yelling and the cajoling are happening. He understands that coach sees something in him that maybe he didn't even know he had himself. He's understanding the lessons and taking the pushing and criticism in stride. All successful people eventually do. The ones that have wilted under that type of pressure and that type of tough love have rarely transferred to another school and made a mark or gone on to bigger and greater things at the professional basketball level. The reason for that isn't because Boeheim crushed their spirit, it's because they were unwilling to heed the lessons and criticism he was trying to give them. Being soft with them and wearing kids' gloves doesn't help because it doesn't push them to their absolute best.