Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
When Were You Going To Tell Me?
Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.
"Don't shoot the messenger" is the saying we carry in our heads as we get ready to tell someone some bad news. This is our mantra as we walk the last mile to a manager's desk and nervously wipe our brows, write and rewrite in our heads what we're going to say in the next status meeting, or perhaps start collecting resume data at our desks as we start wondering where we are going to find a new position.
Melodrama aside, there are moments in our professional lives when the most devastating news may have to be delivered that puts our heads on the chopping block. It's no easy job, and not one you can generally prepare for especially in a brief timeframe, but it has to be done with about as much enjoyment as you might get when you need to fill out your income taxes while having a root canal performed.
Bad News in History
"I well believe it, to unwilling ears; none love the messenger who brings bad news."
This idea was expressed as far back as 442 B.C. by Sophocles in his work Antigone and much later by Shakespeare in both Henry IV and in Antony and Cleopatra. Over the years, the sentiment has maintained much of its vitality, although somewhat changed in violent intent. While no one source of the phrase "Don't kill the messenger" can be found, some believe it to belong to Alexander the Great. Over the years, the phrase has evolved from "killing" a messenger to "shooting…
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Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity. - Frank Leahy |