When a revenue target is missed or a project derails, senior executives often learn about it too late—and the explanation "they didn't tell me" may not hold up, according to executive coach and former Paramount Pictures senior executive Joel Berman. In a recent interview, Berman argued that the higher an executive climbs, the harder it becomes to hear the truth about what is happening below, and that leaders must accept responsibility for that silence.
Berman, who spent years as President of Worldwide Television Distribution at Paramount and now coaches executives, said the problem often starts with good intentions. Employees think, "This is my responsibility. I'm supposed to fix it," he said. "They want to be viewed as somebody who has a good handle on the business and gets things done." That instinct is valuable—until "I'll handle it" becomes "I'll wait to tell anyone until I've handled it." Sometimes it doesn't get handled, and by the time the leader finds out, the available choices may be very different.
Berman draws a distinction between keeping a leader informed and handing over responsibility. Ideally, a direct report says, "Here's the issue. Here's what we're doing about it. Here's what I think we should do next." That lets the leader ask questions, challenge assumptions, and offer resources without taking ownership away from the person executing the plan. "You want someone to solve problems, you want them to come in with a plan, but you also want to know far enough ahead," Berman said.
Timing is critical. If a business is likely to miss revenue expectations and leadership learns early, there may still be time to adjust expenses, move resources, intervene in the underlying issue, or prepare the CEO and board. "If I would have known about this earlier, we could have taken some steps to try to mitigate it," Berman said. "You would have had an opportunity to fix it, and you would have had an opportunity to communicate it. But if you find out after the fact, there's nothing you can do." In other words, bad news becomes more expensive as the time to respond disappears.
Yet Berman is equally clear that the executive bears responsibility. "It's your fault because you didn't know about it," he said. "Yes, it's their fault too, but it's on you." An executive who blames subordinates for not speaking up invites an uncomfortable follow-up question: What is it about your leadership that discourages open communication? For Berman, knowing what is happening inside the organization is part of the job, not a luxury.
He does not claim to have mastered this himself. "I think I've made every mistake there is to make," Berman said. During his own executive years, he admits he wasn't always consistent when people brought him problems. "I'd like to think I was the kind of leader that people could bring problems to, but I don't think I always reacted in a consistent manner," he said. Employees remember how leaders react to bad news; a single reproach can teach others to stay silent, leaving an executive with an open door and no one willing to walk through it.
Berman's advice is to build regular communication rhythms—staff meetings, weekly or biweekly one-on-ones—and to encourage good news as well as concerns. The goal is not to push every issue upward, but to create a culture where people closest to the work feel comfortable sharing what leadership needs to know before circumstances make the conversation unavoidable. As Berman sees it, by the time someone reaches the upper levels, "They didn't tell me" only raises a more uncomfortable question: Why didn't you know?
