Former England footballer Alex Scott believes feedback and criticism is a vital ingredient in learning and development, and says it's helped her grow into her second career in television.

Scott, who earned 140 caps for the Lionesses and also represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympic games, was used to receiving feedback, both positive and negative, during her playing career from coaches, performance analysts and fans.

She felt that having her football performance constantly under the microscope has enabled her to accept people critiquing her work, whilst also learning to give herself praise, as she continues her journey into broadcasting.

"I’ve had to, over the years, work towards actually giving myself some positive feedback and patting myself on the back to appreciate where I've been and what I've overcome to get to where I am." said Scott, a UEFA Champions League winner with Arsenal in 2007.

"I think it goes back to my early days. It's been a mindset in football when you sit there and you do your analysis as a team or from the manager, there was a mindset of always picking out every negative thing that you've done wrong, and actually you do get into that, but it's actually then reinforcing this is what you did well and what you need to work on."

In an interview for MiMentor and Succession with fellow BBC Presenter Dan Walker, Scott recalled an early but simple moment that Walker helped her with, something she took forward to later television appearances.

"I remember one of the first times working with you, coming off a show and you were like ‘Alex, you said “absolutely” four times in one sentence'. Straight away I was like, 'Thanks Dan', because without someone telling me, I didn't even know I was doing that. It made me aware to actually then be better going onto my next programme."

She added: "Imagine someone getting all the way to the end of their career then finally someone says, 'oh we have to replace you', and then that person is like, 'well, what did I do wrong or how can I improve' and you tell them at the end when you could have been telling them. They could have been working to be better or different or improved certain areas."

Click here to watch the full interview between Alex and Dan as they discuss leadership, being a team player, mentors, being judged, learning from big moments and much more... [Available for MiMentor Subscribers only]

Alex Scott On Dealing With Feedback And Criticism
Former England and Arsenal defender and now TV pundit and presenter Alex Scott talks to Dan Walker about dealing with feedback and criticism during her time in football and in broadcasting.
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