Really? Sounds like a leadership cop-out to me! Doctors make judgments about people all the time, it’s part of their job. If your kidneys aren’t functioning because you have a type of diabetes, then your kidneys aren’t functioning. Changing your lifestyle, habits and so forth may help to alleviate external symptoms, but your health is not going to be ameliorated unless you get some treatment for your kidneys. In fact, rumours of your demise might prove to be well-grounded if you insist on not getting treatment. Even if you do get treatment, there is no guarantee that your kidneys will be restored to their original functionality, which follows that your health might never be the same again. Do you want doctors to stop judging people? The same thing goes for you if you are a venture capitalist. You have to make judgments all the time. Your financial well-being depends on it! Would you expect a venture capitalist to say “I won’t judge you, just present your plan to me and I’ll give you all the money you need”? Of course not! What we really mean when we say we don’t judge is that we do not pass sentence until we have had the time to examine all the facts of the case. That is hard work, and not many appreciate the value of hard work. Which is why people devolve to trite statements like “Let’s not judge others”, “There is no right or wrong” and so forth. Well, I’ve got news for you. You have to judge others and there is a right and a wrong. What matters more is not whether you judge, but what you do to help others make things better after you have judged and have come to your own conclusions.

Do you know why you shy away from making judgments, especially if they are judgments about other people? It is because you have no wish to judge yourself. Yes, none of us likes to judge ourselves. And so we hide behind sayings which appear to be wise and circumspect, but which are really sophomoric and sanctimonious, to say the least.

Do this now. Judge yourself. Judge righteously. Then work on improving, even if it’s just by one percent. Then you will be able to judge others. With love and a genuine desire to help others make things better. Tell me how it went!