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Keeping bad news to yourself is like swallowing a grenade. With its pin removed. Meaning, the stress and anxiety is going to damage you far more than the impact of the bad news.

This does not mean you can toss the grenade to someone else, that would be irresponsible. Besides, they may toss it back to you.

Find out who needs to know (this will be someone who will care or who can help) and tell them. Help them understand the situation quickly, and most important, tell them how they can help.

Fear of a backlash is pointless, it is probably more useful to build a reputation of someone who will call it as they see it, and someone who will stay around to make the bad news go away.