Integrity is the Essence of everything Successful

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge with integrity is dangerous and dreadful - Samuel Johnson

Transparency was a film from Kodak

When I grew up in the age of Corporate Innocence, transparency meant only one thing. It meant a piece of Kodachrome film.  Kodachrome was a reversal film first introduced by Kodak in 1935 and was used for both still photography and cinematography.  Typically for the business professional it meant the 35 mm slides in their presentation which were then put into a Kodak Carousel Tray and  then projected on a Kodak projector.  Kodachrome had a big brother called Ektachrome which was reserved for professional photographers.

When I recently saw an article on 'transparency' from one of the world's most sought after consultancies, I couldn't help feeling how the world has changed. In the old days one would never have needed to hear anyone preach about transparency in business. There was no other way that people knew about doing business.  Honesty was not a virtue because everyone was honest in both politics and business. Honesty, integrity, and other values got instilled in you right from your days as a management trainee.

Corporate behaviour  on drunken driving was never needed as a rule in the HR handbook. ( I was reminded of this when a senior corporate executive in one of India's largest firms crashed her Audi and killed a few people last month ) Everyone was well behaved both outside and inside the office.  Good corporate behaviour always meant that you would conduct yourself well even after office because that could affect the image of your company.   If you were the host at a company party for your clients, your boss would often tell you that it was better to nurse a glass of beer through the length of the party, because hosts could never take the chance of being inebriated. And as a host, it was your job to make sure that the guests enjoyed themselves. If you were sober there was a better chance that you were in control of the proceedings.  If people broke the rule they were called in the very next morning by the senior management and ticked off categorically.  And they were frowned upon for a few weeks so that they would never forget the incident.

I was once reprimanded by a very senior client of mine and he said that what I had done was not proper corporate etiquette.  I don't even hear the word ' corporate etiquette ' any more.  Has everyone forgotten, and is it necessary to re-write the book on corporate etiquette?

 But what really inspired me to write this blog was the global consultancy company preaching to corporates on transparency.  Obviously people need to be spoken to on transparency because companies and employees are not transparent any more?  For me Transparency has taken on a new and interesting meaning and it might interest the etymologists in the business world how the meaning of transparency has changed, since the days I grew up in this business.