Those who know the situation in the marketplace serve the role of spies for the leaders of modern companies. They will sometimes be bearers of bad news, and, if you follow the Sun Tzu tradition, they will bear this news to you while there is time to act. They are saviors of the company and should be recognized and rewarded as such. True, it takes a strong leader to admit publicly that a position that he or she championed is now wrong or outdated. But in this day and age, companies without strong leaders are doomed, anyway.
