Answer: Getting negative feedback about your performance from your colleagues can be an ego bruiser. But, successful leaders consider feedback the breakfast of champions. They know that feedback can shed light on their blind spots, and help them assess reality correctly. Every setback can become a springboard to success if you respond in the right way.

No matter how resilient they are, most executives process news like this by working through the five stages of grief. That’s partly because high achievers tend to have attribution bias. That is, they take too much credit for their successes and assign too much external blame for their failures. It’s a survival mechanism that helps to protect their self-esteem. Unfortunately, it also prevents learning and growth.

You’ve suffered a setback, but you don’t have to get stuck in the grief cycle. Re-read the feedback carefully and mine it for nuggets to help you critically evaluate where you can improve. Talk with others who you trust to get their perspective on your feedback. Use this opportunity to do some serious discovery work, then act with renewed conviction. Move out of the grief cycle and onto a path that will allow you to grow as a leader and be the kind of model you strive to be.