Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Bearer of Bad News
How many times have you been on a project where you knew things were going to go badly, yet no one had the guts to say anything? On struggling projects, silence can be deadly to the bottomline and team morale. Here are three reasons it can difficult to speak up about bad news, and how to make it easier.
It's the elephant in the room. Everyone can hear it bellowing, except the boss.
I was recently working with an organization where the almost everyone knew that the big project deadlines where totally unrealistic. There was no way it was going to be completed on time. Yet senior leadership was still telling the executive board that the project was on track.
It's easy to place the blame on the leaders for setting unrealistic goals, but I believe the responsibility goes both ways. Project leaders and team members, who often have a more accurate lens on things, have a responsibility to alert upper management about potential problems.
Here are three common reasons people don't broach touchy subjects and how to well up your courage:
1. Fear of an uncomfortable conversation ?
Years ago, my husband and I bought a business that wound up failing. Badly. We lost tons of money, spent two years of misery, and almost sunk our entire family.?After we threw in the towel, a friend said, " You know, I had some concerns when you were buying this…
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"It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons." - Douglas Adams |