Until recently I've always worked in life-critical systems (bugs == death). Harshness was never required. Unceasing scrutiny was. As you say, criticism/analysis

Until recently I've always worked in life-critical systems (bugs == death). Harshness was never required. Unceasing scrutiny was. As you say, criticism/analysis and harshness are different things. Probably some of the best leadership I ever witnessed was the lead engineer of a project walking around to each person and seriously asking "and what are you doing today to excel". You were expected to have an answer. It's never enough to just do your job, but it is enough to recognize your current limits, sometimes fail, and have a plan to improve. I try to apply that attitude every day, now over 20 years later (I'm guessing posting on HN does not go under that column, so back to work for me!!!)