Mandy Cohen, National Advisor at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP and Advisor at Town Hall Venture, shared on LinkedIn:
“Clarity is kindness.
I have delivered a lot of hard news over the years. Budget cuts. Reorganizations. Programs we believed in that were ending. Colleagues who would not be staying.
What I’ve learned is that the news itself is rarely what does the most damage. The silence around it does.
When leaders hold back because they are waiting for every detail or hoping to soften the blow, people fill the gap themselves. They fill it with rumor, worst-case scenarios, and a quiet loss of trust. Keeping people in the dark feels protective. It isn’t. It is the least kind option available.
A few things I try to hold to:
- Say it early. Share what you know, even if it isn’t everything, and be honest about what you don’t know yet.
- Say it plainly. People deserve to understand exactly what is happening and what it means for them.
- Say what comes next. Even a partial path forward gives people something to hold onto.”
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