There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.

Under pressure, invention is expensive. A managed version of events has to be maintained, defended and remembered, and crises are exactly the conditions in which people forget what they said. The plain account requires no upkeep, and it is the only ground that does not move when things get worse.

If you are in the middle of something going wrong, say what happened as plainly as you can, early, to the people who need to know. It will feel like the more dangerous option and it almost never is. What compounds is not the mistake but the period during which it was concealed.