Truth is handsomer than the affectation of love. Your goodness must have some edge to it, else it is none.

Kindness that cannot say a hard thing is not kindness; it is a performance of warmth arranged for the comfort of the performer. Real regard for someone includes being willing to tell them what they will not enjoy hearing, and goodness with no edge on it tends to collapse into agreeableness, which helps nobody and eventually reads as indifference. The soft version is easier and costs less, which is exactly why it is so common.

Bring to mind one person you have been managing rather than being honest with. The honesty does not have to be blunt. It has to be actual.