Employees who want to have a career at ExxonMobil and be routinely promoted tell their managers what the manager wants to hear, not what the manager needs to hear. The "truth of the matter" is not important. Eventually, the sky falls on these employees and the managers plead plausible deniability.
Stockholders insist that executives be told what the executive needs to hear from direct reports and all employees. Executives often have to bring in outside consultants to actually hear the "truth of the matter" regarding oil & gas & petrochemical economics.