VIR-I-0062
“I gave the board the real risk instead of the story they wanted.”
They wanted optimism and you had bad news, and the temptation to shade it was enormous. You laid out the real risk and let them decide with their eyes open. Leaders who only deliver good news become useless exactly when they're needed most. You chose to be the one whose word can be trusted under pressure.
Your Practice
- Notice you just became the person they'll believe when it really counts.
- Pair every hard truth with a clear option — honesty plus a path forward.
- Never let yourself round bad news up to make a room comfortable.
- Protect this reputation. A leader's credibility is spent only once.
The Architects
“For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
— Benjamin Franklin, Speech in the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787