How to Handle Someone You Disagree With

When Tim Tebow was struggling under criticism early in his college football career at Florida, he went to his father with a sincere question: "Dad, if all these people that are criticizing me, if they got to know me, I really feel like they would like me." His father's response cut deep and honest: "They would, because you're likeable. But some people won't want to get to know you because they won't want to then like you." That moment—and a Winston Churchill quote Tebow was reading at the same time about how having enemies means you've stood for something—shaped how he thinks about disagreement, criticism, and standing your ground without devaluing the people on the other side.

Reading the Room Before Engaging

Tebow's first instinct in any disagreement is to assess context and culture. He asks himself: What's the goal here? What could actually be impactful in this moment? The answer determines whether he engages or walks away. If someone is trying to argue and clearly doesn't want to hear anything, Tebow says the appropriate response is often "a very compassionate response and exiting that situation." But if someone is trying to intellectually process a disagreement—genuinely working through it rather than fighting—then there's room for a healthy back and forth.