Transparency, What Should I Keep Secret?

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When the information age began, we called it the 'new' economy.  It has lived up to that name.  It has become the 'bulk' economy.  We live in the 'bulk' age of information.  Information comes in 'bulks.'  Google anything in your search line and discover a long list of information about that subject.  Information is everywhere, on anything with variety.  We have discovered how to find anything about everything.  There is no true transparency because nothing is hidden anymore.  There are no secrets.

If you want to buy a car, just search for what the manufacturer spent to make it.  You can search long and hard enough to find those facts.  They are in cyberspace.  They can be accessed if you know how to do it.  What's more, it is not that hard to do anymore.  You can spend an afternoon gathering real information about how much your car cost to land on the dealerships floor in your home town.  Now you know what they paid for it.  When you go in to purchase it, you have some good information to use as you negotiate the price you want to pay when you consider buying it.  Everything is transparent, if you want it to be.

We can dig up the pattern of things anyone has done in their lives if we want to find out about who they really are.  Their life records are floating about in cyberspace.  If they have a group of people following them around to report what they are doing right now, you can see what they ate at the last food joint they attended.  I do not necessarily care about what some famous person ate today, but millions do!  You might even be able to see the type of forks they used, too!  I am not being funny.  It is true.

Transparency is the rule.  We live in a transparent age.  We communicate with our children more now than we ever did in the past.  We have instant messaging.  They can live and work on the other side of the world and know exactly what we are doing in the local grocery store, right now.  So much more is available to easily share than ever before.  We have become an extremely transparent society.  Dirty laundry is now common to be seen in the general public's view.  We, as a society, have come to believe this is alright to see.  We want our politicians to be more transparent.  We want our boss to become more transparent.  We want our investment managers to become more transparent.  We want our parents to become more transparent.  We want our children to become more transparent.  We want our teachers to become more transparent.  We want our neighbors to become more transparent.  We want our law officers to become more transparent.  We want our doctors to become more transparent.  We want our celebrities to become more transparent.  We have become junkies to the idea of promoting more transparency.  Technology delivered this ability right straight to our front doors.  The 'new' economy is all about loads of information, coming quickly and even mobile in hand-held, almost wrist watch ways.  We have become transparent junkies.

We want the 'low-down' on everything!  We send what we find to our sphere of influence as quickly as we can find the 'news' about someone or something.  We want so much to be recognized for 'discovering' this information.  It is much like we are involved in a race to pass on the 'low-down' about everything we can find that will 'shock' our friends.  A new song, a new political fault, a 'failed' major attempt, a sporting event 'upset', a new fashion 'hit', a great management discovery and a flashing corporate growth pattern...we want to be the 'first' to report what we have found.  Information has become one of the best ways to gain a popularity badge!  I am guilty of playing that process.  I stand next to hundreds of people every single day who are playing that very same game.  Transparency is king.

That begs the question, what should we keep secret?  Furthermore, how do we keep what needs to be kept secret...secret?

I have a neighbor who is having some specific challenges with one of their children.  They are faced with some hard decisions about some social ills that each of us have had to deal with at one time or another.  How should they manage that bit of dirty laundry when it has become so public after some friends that child has that have openly shared what is going on.  Nothing they have done is illegal.  Nothing they have done is abusive.  However, their private lives and the challenges they are managing are now public affairs.  An argument from a parent with one of their teenage children has gone public.  Why?  Because it can and more importantly, we may be losing the 'art' of managing transparency correctly.  With the growth of our information age, we might be jeopardizing the need to keep some things private.  Not everything needs to be transparent.

I own a business.  It is private.  It has no partnerships.  It does not serve and manage public monies.  My income from that endeavor is nobodies business.  I choose to keep it private.  I should have the right to protect that effort.  Some believe I need to be more transparent about what I make in that endeavor.  I do not agree.  Some things need to remain private.

Technology, One Of The Great Wonders.

I wonder how someone might feel if a camera was attached to the space above them following them around to every single space they occupy in a days time.  Watching and recording every single thing they do and say.  How they sleep, how they eat, how they use the restroom, what they Google, what they write, who they see, what they say and what they purchase is all recorded for the world to review.  I wonder how long someone would put up with this kind of transparency?  Everything they say and do becomes the recorded knowledge of their family, friends and associates.  Everything.  Think about what you say to your spouses.  Think about what you say to a stranger about the kids you raise.  Think about what you say to the grocery store clerk about your significant other.  Think about what you say to the television when you are all alone.  Think about what your employees would think when they can hear how you discuss who they are with someone else when they are not around.  Think about what an investor would think if they could hear how you expressed to your spouse what the investor did at home that was so stupid.  We get to watch your most private moments, your sex life, your inhibitions, your secret habits and your faults that you easily hide.  How much transparency do you really want?  There is obviously a line to be drawn.  Where is that line?

Ladies and gentlemen, the lines to moral codes are being moved every single day.  Morality is slowly eroding.  Furthermore, the increase to improved information searching is growing at alarming paces.  Finding better access to deeper secrets is getting more common.  The these two elements are colliding now more than ever.  Your privacy is at great risk.  I suggest that you get prepared to learn how to deal with information you do not want the public to know.  If you have some short sides about who you are, get them corrected.  If you have some concerns about remaining private on the things you cherish most, get them better protected.  If you have information that will not be something you will be proud to reveal, prepare how to deal with it well.  Exposure is the king of what technology brings to the table of life.  Learn how to deal with it.  It is not going away.

Transparency is no longer the best kept secret.  It has become one of the most common forms of societal growth.  Business owner must prepare their paths with leadership skills that will be able to handle the onslaught of wrong information flowing in and about their airwaves in the company halls.  Transparency is not always accurate.  In fact, most is not.  That is where the rub gets my attention.  With the increase in ability to search out informational stuff, combined with the increased desire for the public to want to know everything they can gather...the potential to acquire wrong information is running high.  Misinformation is now a new part of our responsibilities to manage correctly.  We must develop better skills on learning how to work the information flows with improved respect.  Losing the ease of protecting sensitive information will become a serious issue that must be included in the management style of a great leader.  Great leaders will formulate what should be kept secret and they will learn how to teach restraint in their organizations.  Some of the best leaders already perform this 'art.'  A lot of the new leaders have never considered it important.  If the new leaders do not understand the value of performing this 'art,' they risk placing limits on their level of success.  Some things are best kept secret while they are given a chance to develop stronger roots before they become strong enough components to the contribution of success at a later stage.  Winners know exactly what I mean.  Information restraint is vital in helping some success components do what they do best, succeed.  Early detection can easily kill a great idea.  Transparency is not its friend.

Become aware of what needs to be transparent and what needs to remain stealth.  Prepare a "B" plan for the stealth side of things.  Leaks are occurring with more frequency.  Manage your desires, your plans, your ideas with complete understanding about how easily those secret things may 'hit' the news.  Prepare for the way they may be misconstrued.  It is part of what a great leader will learn to accept in this new age of information society we are developing.  Make sure your management style does not ignore the realities of this potential.  Make sure your management style includes the honor privacy deserves.

I wished I could tell my neighbor to quit adjusting how he communicates with me since his teenage news became so public.  I liked the way we used to chat.  I notice how guarded he has become since the news came out.  Our relationship has changed.  He did nothing wrong.  I try to keep the same perspective I had before the news was made public.  I was relieved when the correction about how he acted came out later to exonerate what they say he did.  The accuracy came out later with the same piece of technology that was used to damage his character in the first place.  Unfortunately, even though he has been cleared of the original misinformation, publicly shared, he still must deal with the wrong set of treatment from some people who know what possibilities existed.  Transparency changed his life, even when it was inaccurately presented.

Transparency, what should I keep secret?  It is a serious issue, people.  It can damage lives if it is not protected properly.  Become a good manager of transparency.  It can become a serious issue in this day and age.  Pay close attention to the private items in your sphere of influence.

Until next time...