Transparency in Business Communications - Why It's Not Happening as Fast as We Want

Transparency in business is a not-so-new new concept. Perhaps it is news for parts of the business world, but it was heavily touted and adopted by Hippie and spiritual communities in the 1960s. The late 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of the Internet and early digital communication, which began to change the expectations for transparency. Millennials grew up with social media, 24/7 news cycles, and, of course, the web, which created a whole new level of information access. They experienced the dot-com bubble burst and the subsequent rise of digital transparency as companies began to realize the power of online communication.

Corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom in the early 2000s highlighted the need for greater transparency and led to regulatory changes such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Then, in the 2000s and 2010s, we saw the proliferation of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and later Instagram, creating environments where transparency was valued and often expected.

Millennials witnessed and often participated in the push for corporate social responsibility and ethical business practices, driven by increased access to information and the ability to mobilize quickly through digital networks.

Muddied Waters

Boomers, Gen Jones, and a smattering of the ABC generations demanded transparency in news reporting. Traditional investigative reporting fell to the wayside as subjective 'opinion' not-so-news news made its way to the mainstream, obfuscating anything that might be called truth in journalism or reporting.

At the same time, Millennials pushed for acts of social responsibility, including sustainability yet corporations paid lip service to the idea. Because of the muddied waters created in and by social media (bots, fake news, the firing of news departments), it became that much easier for corporations not to be transparent. While the customer might be king at the retail level, the customer as-average citizen did not reap the so-called benefits of corporate transparency in many industries, such as healthcare, beauty, fashion, entertainment... until it was too late. Meaning, until after a class action suit was filed or a major scandal was revealed to the public.

Sony: Case Study

I worked in the entertainment industry for many years, so it's a familiar space. Unfortunately, what happened in 2014 was recognizable. Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered a massive cyber-attack. A group calling itself the Guardians of Peace (GOP) claimed responsibility, releasing a trove of internal documents, emails, and sensitive information.

There was a lack of transparency in many areas.

Financial Discrepancies, Racial Inequality, Talent Relations and Deals, and Corporate Practices, among others. One such leak included detailed financial records and strategic plans that showed how decisions were made behind closed doors, often without transparency to stakeholders, including investors and employees. These documents revealed contentious corporate decisions and profit distribution models that were not publicly disclosed.

Why Is Transparency Difficult?

To embrace transparency, one needs to embody certain qualities: courage and self-governance. This is why practicing transparency is difficult: Most people are not courageous, meaning they will not go out on a ledge to stand up to their principles. Nor do the majority of people have the self-control to be objective, and that means sharing information for the betterment of the whole company and its public. More often than not people hoard control for fear of losing it.

Psychologists and life coaches discuss vulnerability. What does it take to be vulnerable? It takes courage to admit something about oneself that may be frowned upon. Consultants discuss regulation and oversight. What does it take to have oversight? It takes self-governance to be objective and to choose right over wrong for yourself, your employees, your team, and associates affiliated with your organization.

B Corporations do a great job of living up to the word 'transparency' because they are conscious capitalists. Yet what about the millions of other companies - from solopreneurs to global concerns like Walmart, Nike, or Forever21? How do they stack up compared to B Corporations? Unfortunately not so well. I have an expression I wrote in one of my books of quotes and it goes like this. "It takes a long time to be on time."

Isn't it time we all became a little more punctual?