Here is a slightly edited joke sent to me by a friend.
God called three individuals to announce His intentions toward the human race. At the meeting were Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Bill Gates. God announced that he was putting an end to the human race in 30 days and that each was to inform their respective constituents.
Vladimir Putin goes back to his countrymen and tells them, “I have some bad news and some terrible news. The bad news is that our communist ideology was wrong. The terrible news is God is putting an end to everything in 30 days.”
Barack Obama goes back to his followers and says, “I have some bad news and good news. The good news is our religion is correct and there is a God. The bad news is that God is putting an end to everything in 30 days.”
Bill Gates goes back to his followers and says, “I have good news and better news. The good news is that I am one of the three most important humans on the planet according to God. The better news is we don’t have to ship the next version of Windows.”
If you are managing a team or a department, how do you deliver bad news while minimizing push back especially when you are announcing some changes?
