2-3 weeks ago I talked about moral choices and being at the interstices of whats public and private. In this month’s current issue of Wired magazine, Clive Thompson has a a fairly comprehensive article on radical transparency and business success.
Not long ago, the only public statements a company ever made were professionally written press releases and the rare, stage-managed speech by the CEO. Now firms spill information in torrents …
You can’t hide anything anymore … If you engage in corporate flimflam, people will find out.
Transparency is a judo move. Your customers are going to poke around in your business anyway, and your workers are going to blab about internal info – so why not make it work for you … ?
And he has lot’s of real-world, recent examples.
Thompson indicates this isn’t necessarily all about business but is a cultural shift, a redrawing of the lines between what’s private and what’s public.
Maybe – but in some ways it’s as old as the hills. Anyone in a marital relationship knows deep down that trying to hide anything can be an unwise gamble. So too with businesses and customers now.