It’s easy to weigh advice by the person giving it — their standing, how close they are to you, whether you like them — and miss what they actually said. Innocent’s correction is plain: “Don’t judge advice by your opinion of its teller. Judge it by what it is worth.”

The cost of getting this wrong is quiet but real. Rate the person instead of their words and you can push away the ones who mean well while keeping the ones who only flatter you. Someone who tells you a hard truth — not to demean or mislead, just to let you know of it — means well, however it sounds.

The value of advice sits in the advice, not the mouth it comes from. “Truth is truth,” no matter who happens to be saying it.