[September 2, 2017] Experience tells us that during our lifetime there will be many difficult situations and there will be a message to be found somewhere about what we need to learn from them. Often that message is brought to us by someone else, giving us bad news that we don’t want to hear. Since before recorded history the one lesson we should listen to is to never blame the messenger.
The phrase originates in the fog of antiquity, probably as a code of conduct in war where the commander of troops was expected to receive and send important messages. An analogy is “don’t shoot the messenger” and was written in Plutarch’s Lives and taught to us in basic military schools. The leadership lesson is powerful.
In the publication, Plutarch writes of Tigranes (King of Armenia,140-55 BC), when a messenger gave notice of a political enemy coming to see him. The message was so unappealing that Tigranes had the messenger’s head cut off. After that incident, no one dared bring any further negative information. Tigranes, while at war, had no enemy intelligence (only platitudes) … only listening to those who flattered him, ultimately resulting in several military defeats.
On our part it the message could be about poor judgment, inadequate communications, lazy thinking, inferior planning, sloppy behavior, insufficient resources, poor leader guidance, or just plain bad luck. For leaders – or for anyone – it becomes an emotional event and separating the message from the messenger requires experience and skill.
“No man delights in the bearer of bad news.” – Sophocles, Ancient Greek writer
A more modern version of “blaming the messenger” can be seen when someone blames the media for presenting bad news about a favored cause, person, or organization. Carl Jung, a peer of Freud, describes the psychology of human behavior and the time-honored emotional response to unwanted news and that to blame the messenger is not an effective method of being well-informed.
U.S. President Bill Clinton was notorious for blaming the messenger, especially senior military leaders whom he would have had disagreements. He would publically embarrass senior leaders to a point that many no longer brought information to him about the status of the military at the time. Clinton, subsequently, made several poor decisions on major military matters.1
The lesson for leaders is plain. Blaming the messenger will get the attention of everyone very quickly and the ability of such a leader to acquire accurate, timely information for decision-making will begin to disappear.
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- For example, he had the opportunity to have Osama Bin Laden killed but failed to carry it out because he was under the impression that OBL was not a major threat. No senior military leader was heard out by Clinton on this issue and may explain Clinton’s attitude about an assassination operation.