> The right thing to do in this situation is to acknowledge that you see the situation the same way they do, but do it privately, within your immediate team only or in 1-1s. “Yeah, this new policy sucks, I get it. It’s going to affect me in negative ways too.” It’s really important that you validate the emotions that all of these aspects are bringing up in people.

This I wish more leaders did. It can be really demoralizing to the point of leaving a role when you hear company stuff that's blatantly false, in bad faith, or whatever - and your leader, who you know damn well is smart enough to see it as well, looks you dead in the eye and repeats the company line.

In other words, "don't piss on my shoes and tell me it's raining." I'd rather be told you're screwing me than being screwed and gaslit about it. No matter what, in the end I'm going to remember I was screwed and how you approached that.

On the other hand, I do not expect middle managers to talk negatively about a policy that they do not have influence over and they did not initiate because in the end they cannot change it and I don’t want them to get into trouble for validating my feelings.

Middle managers will say that it is only raining and I will nod along even if we both know that they are pissing on my shoes.

I might start looking for another job, but as long as I’m there, I will smile and play along if I know that my resistance will not change the decision. Even in my exit interview, I’ll say everything was great.

This is probably not what I would have done at the beginning of my career but now I have a family so I don’t mind pretending.