Persian Messenger Syndrome
Ancient Persians killed messengers who brought bad news. The modern version: careers are damaged by carrying unwelcome information to powerful people, even when the information is essential.
Real-World Examples
- CBS under Paley — the chairman was hostile to bearers of bad news, creating a "cocoon of unreality" that led to terrible deals
- Oil companies in litigation — general counsel afraid to recommend unwelcome settlements, leading to disasters
- Lawyers — sometimes carry on to disaster rather than recommend a wise but unwelcome settlement their client would hate them for
Berkshire's Antidote
"Always tell us the bad news promptly. It is only the good news that can wait."
Munger also notes a second antidote: be so wise and well-informed that people fear not telling you bad news, because you're likely to find out anyway.
The Underlying Psychology
Persian Messenger Syndrome is a product of Mere-Association Tendency (Tendency #10): the messenger gets associated with the bad news and triggers disliking. Combined with Authority-Misinfluence (subordinates defer to the boss's emotional reactions), the result is systematic information suppression.
Connection to Other Concepts
- incentive-superpower — the messenger's incentive is self-preservation, not truth-delivery
- seamless-web-of-trust — organizations with high trust tolerate bad news better
- environment-design-for-habits — designing organizational environments where truth-telling is the default