Lesson 10. Transparency.
Erik Boemanns
Leading you from IT risk to reward. A lawyer/technologist bringing executive expertise to IT GRC, privacy, and security. Together, we can reach your next level of success.
I've been in business for myself (or with a partner) five different times over thirty years. Four of those didn't grow into something to keep me there. Each time before, I ended up working somewhere else. Each time before, my focus was me – how do I earn enough to pay the bills. I treated small business ownership as a job and not a career. When you take that approach, it is easier to end up in a job somewhere else. They handle the overhead, you do the work. All my past attempts and my journey working with others have taught me many valuable lessons. I've shared nine other of these lessons here this year, and wrap up with my tenth message, and what may be the most important: be transparent.
In business, you're working with employees, partners, customers, and more. And in business, you have negotiated the relationship. In theory, each side feels as though the exchange is right in terms of money spent and value given. But we also know in business one side will often have the advantage. We've all been burnt before by someone who uses that advantage against us – creating a lopsided deal where they end up with more, and us less. This means we enter each negotiation with reduced (or no) trust. We assume each side is keeping their cards close to their chest, and we do too. We're taught being honest makes us easy to take advantage of our situation. So, we approach the conversation opaquely – only sharing just enough to move the conversation forward, but not enough to expose vulnerabilities.
No surprise, transparency suggests the opposite of an opaque conversation. It means being willing to tell a bit more of the truth than you might otherwise. It also means not telling the lie. Lying? almost always destroys trust when it's later revealed to be a lie. It doesn't matter what percent of a conversation is a lie. Even the smallest amount can infect the relationship and eat away at all which is good. When approaching relationships, whether business, personal, or otherwise, lying is never the best approach to building trust. Transparency goes beyond not lying, though. It prompts us to speak when we might otherwise have been silent. It fights not just for no untruthful lies, but also no lies of omission. Trying to be transparent can easily make people uncomfortable, but when done correctly, is a super power in getting to where you need to be.
Transparency does not mean tell-all, but it does mean tell-more.
Being transparent does not mean saying everything all the time. There are plenty of things which you may know but cannot share with someone else. It could be that it is not your information to share. It could be information, without more context, could cause more harm by revealing. Or, it could be the person you're talking with hasn't demonstrated to you the level of trust showing they will take the same care with the information that you are. It's possible to be too transparent and spoil the relationship. Transparency does not mean tell-all, but it does mean tell-more. Especially if it's relevant to the negotiation in which you are participating. In a business setting with other professionals, transparency is almost always appreciated. Why? Because it saves everyone time, and in business, time truly is money.
Take a conversation with a sales representative as an example. They want to talk to you because they think they will be able to sell you their product. But, do you want to talk to them because you want to buy it? Or are you just doing research to learn more about it? Maybe you just want to know how much it will cost to see if you can even afford to buy it. As a buyer, being transparent about your reason for talking to the sales person can help frame the entire conversation. It helps them be better prepared and invite the right people to the call. It might even make the call short enough to not waste yours and their time on something which will never happen.
Transparency matters with your clients as well. Making sure they know what you're capable of, where you'll bring in help, and where they will be on their own is important to setting the right expectations. Almost every client is happy if you meet or beat whatever expectations you set. And everyone is unhappy if you miss them. The important thing? You're the one who set them. So you're setting yourself up for a future happy or mad client – not because of what you do – but because of what you say you're going to do. Transparency helps make sure you set the right expectations and don't mislead a client into believing they'll get more than you're able to provide.
Partners and team members deserve transparency too. Sure, there's details of your business which they don't need to know, but when things are happening which could impact them (whether positively or negatively), it's best to be as open and honest as possible. If things aren't looking good, transparency runs the risk they may bail on you early. But lack of transparency just delays it, and then they won't just bail, they'll do so angrily. Transparency gives them an opportunity to make an informed decision – they can support or leave – but they'll be deciding from a place of trust. No matter their decision, you will have more support from them by being transparent about the business.
The multiplier of shared knowledge is far greater than keeping it secret.
As I think about what I'm doing different this time, it's more than these ten lessons I've shared. But these ten lessons are key differentiators from how I thought about it before, and how I do now. Transparency has been a key part of it this year, and has opened up potential opportunities which would have never been possible without it. Even sharing what I've learned is part of transparency. If I know what works, keeping it secret might give me a competitive edge. But telling the world will create stronger partners, clients, and a community of support. The multiplier of shared knowledge is far greater than keeping it secret. And that's a belief I'm happy to be transparent about.
What’s your take on transparency?? Do you practice it and does it help you? Have you seen it backfire? Perhaps there was too much transparency?
If you missed any of my prior nine lessons learned, I'll be sharing them in their entirety soon on Medium and Substack. Be sure to subscribe there for the full set!
Week In Review
Here's what was on the mind this past week. Check out the posts and join in on the conversation!
If you missed my DevSecOps talk at ISSA this past week, I will likely do some quick takes from it and share them soon.
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In Conclusion
I'm grateful to all of you who spend the time sharing your thoughts, engaging with posts, and being part of the amazing conversations happening here.
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Thanks, as always!
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About Erik
Erik Boemanns is a technology executive and lawyer. His background covers many aspects of technology, from infrastructure to software development. He combines this with a "second career" as a lawyer into a world of cybersecurity, governance, risk, compliance, and privacy (GRC-P). His time in a variety of companies, industries, and careers brings a unique perspective on leadership, helping, technology problem solving and implementing compliance.
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