Fathers, CEOs, military officers, or any person in a position of responsibility, must display coolness, calmness, and resolve, no matter how difficult things are. Lots of humans are weak, and panic when they see weakness or uncertainty in a leader. Also, as you know, when a leader allows himself to panic, he immediately has difficulty thinking.
The good Lord gave us brains to figure out what is REALLY going on, no matter what words we hear or read. For those who can’t figure out what is really going on, the coolness, calmness, and resolve of the leader offers comfort.
Remember, the objective of the leader is to be effective. Sometimes, a leader has to dance around the truth to keep folks moving in the right direction.
That’s my read of human nature, and it’s why I am a skeptic of, and place little credence in, public pronouncements. I, instead, look to actions and data to get a sense of what is really going on.