This chapter addresses situations where marketing and leadership must react quickly due to external or internal issues. Examples include losing a key contract, delivering bad news to employees, encountering competition with new technology, or facing delays and budget cuts. On the positive side, it can also mean communicating good news such as securing a long-awaited contract or launching a new product.
These moments of intense emotions impact everyone, whether the events are positive or negative, leading to tension and prompting swift action. Decision-making under stress raises key questions: Are these the best times to make decisions?
How should individuals and organizations react? What options should be considered, when, and by whom? How do these situations differ from crises requiring immediate attention from top management? What about events that affect only a few individuals and require local attention?
If swept up in this whirlwind of tension and strong emotions, how would you respond? What actions would you take? The better prepared you are, the better you can handle such situations. Preparation is not only about negative outcomes — it also involves preparing for positive and negative outcomes to ensure balanced and rational responses.
Numerous articles address the topic of coping with bad news. Individuals typically progress through multiple stages, including denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and ultimately acceptance. These stages are commonly referred to as the “five stages of grief”: five stages of grief.
The change curve, which proposes a performance level as a function of the cycle, is well explained in this article : The Kübler Ross Change Curve in the Workplace (2025)
Additionally, the discussion extends to its application in the business world: Strategic CFO: 5 Stages of Business Grief.
Making business decisions during grief can be challenging and often ill-advised. It is crucial to recognize heightened tension before rushing into poorly timed or articulated decisions.
At the same time, good news can also bring stress. Leaders may feel pressure to act quickly when celebrating wins, which requires the same level of emotional intelligence in decision-making as managing losses.
During grief, some decisions require immediate attention while others can wait. Experienced leaders may navigate the stages faster, but major decisions should be postponed unless thoroughly prepared in advance.
Before the grief period: anticipate outcomes. When pursuing a contract, hold discussions about potential results. This foresight builds business resilience after setbacks and helps teams remain grounded in the event of success.
During the grief period: recognize the limits of decision-making under stress. Avoid reactive choices unless unavoidable.
After the grief period: once emotions stabilize, resume business-as-usual decision-making. This is also the best time to prepare for the next cycle of events.
When handling news, tools can help create structure:
Stakeholder Analysis: identify affected parties and consequences.
Project Prioritization Matrix: compare options by impact, cost, and ROI.
Pugh Matrix: useful for comparing solutions.
Risk and Opportunity Tool: evaluate potential events, likelihood, and impact.
These tools support leadership communication under pressure and allow teams to remain objective in stressful contexts. Building mechanisms to manage uncertainty increases resilience and enables timely action.
Managing periods of intense emotions is critical in business. Recognizing the stages of grief helps teams and leaders avoid premature decisions and instead recover from a bad business decision thoughtfully.
Salespersons have direct experience here. With a 20% market share, one win out of five deals is normal — meaning four losses. Following up with customers after losing deals is difficult, yet essential. This practice not only aids leadership communication under pressure but also strengthens resilience.
Similarly, good news presents opportunities to learn and prepare for the future. Leveraging the surge in positive energy helps teams sustain performance. Business is a cycle of wins and losses — we all learn from both.
Be transparent, empathetic, and prompt. Share facts, acknowledge emotions, and provide a clear plan for next steps.
Use scenario planning to anticipate outcomes, discuss potential responses with teams, and have a communication strategy ready in advance.
It allows leaders to recognize emotional states, avoid rash decisions, and communicate in a way that preserves trust.
Yes — celebrations can create overconfidence or rushed decisions. Leaders should ground their teams, ensuring excitement translates into sustainable action.
Stakeholder analysis, prioritization matrices, and risk/opportunity frameworks provide structured ways to weigh options despite emotional pressure.
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When preparing to handle both good and bad news, consider using brainstorming tools such as mind mapping to evaluate your approach. The consequences of delivering news can be varied and far-reaching, so it’s important to consider their multifaceted impact. Being prepared enables you to take a rational and objective approach—something that can be difficult in the moment.
Several tools can help you prepare. For example, stakeholder analysis allows you to identify all affected parties and assess the consequences for each. If you need to compare multiple solutions, consider using decision-making tools such as project prioritization frameworks or scorecards like the Pugh Matrix. Another valuable resource is the Decision Risk and Opportunity Tool: by assessing potential events, their likelihood, and their impact, you can better anticipate and prepare for various scenarios.
While not all events can be predicted, building mechanisms to manage uncertainty helps build resilience within teams. This proactive approach enables teams to address challenges more effectively and take decisive action when needed.
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