Dear Bob ... This week's ManagementSpeak [from The Assumption of the Present, KJR, 6/6/2005] bothers me (ManagementSpeak: You have a bad attitude./Translation: I don't want the truth. I want a yes-man.) I hate to say this, but to me this is the response of someone who is burnt out and in bad need of a break. I don't agree at all that "management" does not want to hear the truth and wants "yes" to everything. I Dear Bob …This week’s ManagementSpeak [from The Assumption of the Present, KJR, 6/6/2005] bothers me (ManagementSpeak: You have a bad attitude./Translation: I don’t want the truth. I want a yes-man.)I hate to say this, but to me this is the response of someone who is burnt out and in bad need of a break. I don’t agree at all that “management” does not want to hear the truth and wants “yes” to everything. I believe that they don’t like “the truth” when it is presented only as such, or rather just the single side of “can’t be done”, or “we can’t”. What they want is a solution – don’t just point out the problem. If it is just a new project that will wreak havoc into your team’s schedule, delivery plans, or even morale – just point it out. Say “yes, we can do it, and here is the price to pay” – whether that’s putting all other projects, or just one, on the back burner, whether it means blowing away your budget on contractors with the knowledge, skills and man power, and/or whether it’s the justifiable discontent and plain anger of your team from being lugged around like a sack of potatos on a truck bed.But for management it is still a need for a solution with the backing of sound analysis. They don’t want to think about it – they are paid to do their own thinking. And they believe, and rightly so, that this analysis and presentation of a solution is your job – the thinking that you were hired to do.And, of course, it is a game of cooperation that needs to be played fairly and in good faith on both sides, not just by you. But I believe this is the winning game that benefits all. – On management’s sideDear On-side …I think you’re reading the ManagementSpeak as a universal indictment of all managers. The folks who submit these to me are reporting what they heard a manager say, and their interpretation of what that manager meant when he or she said it. Some managers want to hear the “truth.” Others, less ambitious, are looking for an employee’s honest assessment of the situation (and yes, the employee’s recommendations regarding what to do about it) recognizing that “truth” is an elusive beastie.But there are some who run away from facts and logic as if they were rabid weasels, preferring ideas that fit their preconceived biases to any objective analysis. I’m guessing some of them tell employees who disagree with them that they have a bad attitude.– Bob ——– Technology Industry