I absolutely agree that this only applies when you are the deliverer of bad news and should never be used as the receiver of bad news. Not wanting to hear probl

I absolutely agree that this only applies when you are the deliverer of bad news and should never be used as the receiver of bad news. Not wanting to hear problems is a terrible managerial style. As for points 2 & 3, I think there is a big difference between solving something you've been told to do vs. solving something you've ran into. The latter will oftentimes highlight an underlying issue in the process/project which needs to be addressed and solving it without letting others know may create unwanted assumptions. The reason I said "generally try to avoid" instead of always avoid is because sometimes there are real problems worth mentioning or, as you said, times where one simply can't find an acceptable answer. In either case its important to raise the issue even though no solution is at hand. This is exactly why not wanting to hear problems is so catastrophic from a managerial perspective, you end up not hearing about your largest problems.