If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a phone call that starts out with something like, “So-and-so (person you love) has been in an accident,” followed by a winding and twisting tale that eventually ends with, “But they’re ok,” you know the importance of leading with the good news.
There are bad phone calls, and then, there are really bad phone calls, like the ones in which you’re forced to give someone news that a loved one was in an accident or worse — they’ve died.
At some point we all have to be the one to deliver bad news to another person. Whether it's breaking up with a significant other or firing an employee, we all have to do it. Quartz recently published a story by an oncologist who has to deliver bad news on a daily basis on what some of the best practices are for doing so.
While his advice is certainly a bit skewed toward telling someone they have cancer, it can come in handy in almost any situation where you need to pass along information another person might not want to hear.
Doing your best to stay up with current events can often feel like drowning in a torrent of never ending bad news. With information coming at you in every direction, it's easy to get burned out. Compassion and solidarity are important, but being an informed citizen doesn't mean you always have to go down with the ship.
