Has anyone ever given you bad news? How about good news? What is the difference or is there a difference?
Good news: material or information that makes us happy, content, calm, safe and validated.
Bad news, quite the opposite.
So there seems to be a difference between good and bad news, read on.
Have you ever received bad news but in the end things turned out well or better than you expected? Have you ever received good news, and over time what you thought was good news turned out to be less so?
From personal experience, I can tell you that I have experienced all four:
Good news that was good.
Bad news that was bad.
Good news that I thought was good but ended up being bad.
Bad news that I thought was bad and ended up being good.
Confused Yet? Well, I know that over time I often got confused about the difference between these two seemingly opposite messages. But then I learned that sometimes bad news for one person can be perceived as good news for another, and good news for one person over time can be perceived as bad.
Confused? Let me explain.
In the end it is just news and what makes it bad or good or even neutral is not the news itself, but how we perceive, judge, evaluate or react to it.
How can someone perceive bad news as good? Or conversely, how could anyone perceive good news as bad?
In short, each of us has a unique history, experiences, beliefs, and values, and as a result, none of us see the same thing or circumstance in the same way.
Someone who is worrying, negative, pessimistic, or impatient may see a delay as bad when another person who understands the concept that there are things we can control and there are things we cannot control, why get upset about something they can? t control or if you can control it, get busy.
In the end, everything that happens, it just happens and what we do is interpret everything based on our expectations, goals, needs or mindsets, and all of these are unique to each of us.
Let me give you a couple of personal examples. And if you consider the explanation even if you have not had exactly the same circumstances, if you think about it, I will be able to identify you.
Before starting my public speaking and training career, I was a national sales manager for an international organization. The story is long, but the short story is that I had a problem with my boss, the president, and as a result, he fired me. Bad news, right? Well that was all I needed to decide that it was time to start a career that has spanned over 40 years and has allowed me to see the world (25 countries to date) and work with some tremendous clients and audiences. So, in the end, this bad news was really good news.
Here’s another quick one.
Years ago I proposed to my wife and she said yes. Good news, right? (No trials here please). Eventually, after giving my best for over fifteen years, I decided it was time to end and why? Well, without the horrible details, the relationship was gradually eroding my self-esteem, confidence, and optimistic mindset and I decided that I didn’t like who I was becoming in that relationship. We parted amicably, but we parted. Good news, as I was able, over time, to regain everything I had lost, emotionally and spiritually.
We all have our stories and we can all create lists of good and bad news that we have received, but in the end it is just news.
During some of my corporate shows, I share this simple concept: stop asking your employees for good news or bad news, just ask them for the news and then you decide what it is. Because its definition could be completely different from yours.
And vice versa, since an executive or manager does not broadcast, I have good or bad news, just tell your employees that you have some news and let each of them interpret it as they see fit based on their personal views and attitudes. . , mindset, experience, expectations and how it might affect them personally.
I want to make it clear here that I am not talking about denial, surrender, acceptance or apathy, only the willingness to see that there may be another side to the story, one that may be lost due to your history, points of view, opinions. , judgments, etc.