Summary: When delivering bad news that isn’t your fault, choose your words carefully to avoid negativity and over-explaining. Get to the point quickly and remind the recipient of their role in the situation to mitigate blame. Use these strategies to communicate effectively while protecting your credibility and relationships.
tell us bad news immediately—because good news takes care of itself. We can take bad news, but we don’t like it late.” (View Highlight)
If people tell you what you really don’t want to hear—what’s unpleasant—there’s an almost automatic reaction of antipathy. (View Highlight)
When people get bad news, they want to blame someone for their frustration—don’t let that someone be you. (View Highlight)
“Angry words send alarm messages through the brain, and they partially shut down the logic-and-reasoning centers located in the frontal lobes.” (View Highlight)
When we feel guilty, we tend to over-explain. We secretly hope that by explaining, the person will understand and absolve us of guilt. Don’t give in to the temptation to explain everything in excruciating detail. (View Highlight)
The danger of accidentally accepting blame is it legitimizes your audience’s negative perceptions, even if they were inaccurate and misplaced to begin with. (View Highlight)