As executives ascend the corporate ladder, they often find that the flow of honest information from below slows to a trickle. According to executive coach and former Paramount Pictures senior executive Joel Berman, this phenomenon is not just an annoyance—it can be a significant liability. "The higher you climb, the fewer people tell you the truth," Berman said, describing a dynamic that can leave leaders dangerously uninformed.
Berman identifies several reasons why employees withhold bad news. Some fear the boss's reaction; others don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings. But the most common reason is more benign: employees believe handling problems themselves is exactly what they were hired to do. "They're thinking, 'This is my responsibility. I'm supposed to fix it,'" Berman said. "They want to be viewed as somebody who has a good handle on the business and gets things done."
To a point, that instinct is healthy. No organization wants every minor issue pushed up the ladder. Berman expects employees to think through problems and come prepared with a plan. The danger arises when "I'll handle it" becomes "I'll wait to tell anyone until I've handled it." Sometimes it doesn't get handled, and by the time the leader finds out, the options may have narrowed dramatically.
Berman draws a crucial distinction between keeping a leader informed and handing over responsibility. Ideally, a conversation should sound like: "Here's the issue. Here's what we're doing about it. Here's what I think we should do next." This allows the leader to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and provide resources without stripping ownership from the person executing the plan. "You want someone to solve problems, you want them to come in with a plan, but you also want to know far enough ahead," Berman said.
The timing of bad news can change its impact entirely. Consider a revenue shortfall: if senior leadership learns early enough, there may still be time to adjust expenses, reallocate resources, or prepare the CEO or board. "If I would have known about this earlier, we could have taken some steps to try to mitigate it," Berman said. "If you know in advance, you can ask: What can we do? What's the issue? Why is this not happening? But if you find out after the fact, there's nothing you can do." In practical terms, bad news becomes more expensive as the time available to respond disappears.
Yet Berman also places responsibility squarely on the executive's shoulders. "It's your fault because you didn't know about it," he said. "Yes, it's their fault too, but it's on you." If a leader stands before a CEO or board after a revenue miss and explains that their people didn't tell them, that raises another question: What is it about your leadership that discourages open communication? For Berman, that is part of accepting the chair's responsibility. The higher an executive climbs, the harder it becomes to separate responsibility for results from responsibility for understanding what is happening inside the organization.
Berman doesn't claim to have mastered this himself. "I think I've made every mistake there is to make," he said. That experience informs how he coaches executives today. He admits that during his own executive years, he wasn't always consistent when people brought him problems. "I'd like to think I was the kind of leader that people could bring problems to, but I don't think I always reacted in a consistent manner," Berman said. Employees notice how leaders react to bad news, and a single poor reaction can send a message that bringing problems upward carries a price.
To combat this, Berman recommends regular, structured communication—weekly or biweekly one-on-ones, meaningful dialogue in staff meetings, or whatever rhythm suits the organization. "You want to create a structure and a culture that encourages open communication," he said. That communication should include good news as well, so sharing successes feels as natural as raising concerns. The goal is not to push every development upward, but to ensure that people closest to the work understand what leadership needs to know and feel comfortable speaking up before circumstances make the conversation unavoidable.
No executive can prevent every problem, and no leader will receive every piece of information at exactly the right moment. But by the time someone reaches the upper levels of an organization, Berman believes knowing what is happening is itself part of the job. Because eventually, "They didn't tell me" raises a more uncomfortable question: Why didn't you know? For more information about Joel Berman and his executive coaching, visit JoelPBerman.com.
