Why The Reluctance To Manage Trade Secrets?

Poacher Turned Gamekeeper!

?Information flows easily and we all like someone who is 'in the know', better still if it helps our business right?

We Have All Done It

We have all done it at some stage in our career either knowingly or inadvertently, transferred valuable information from one place to another.?

Everyone is looking for an advantage over the next. Asymmetric trades were more obvious in the 1980s and they still happen just not so brazenly. It used to happen down the pub but now faster networks and better algorithms all create advantage.?

Yes, But Moment!

Going through the trade secret management programme there is always that ‘yes but moment’.

‘Oh hang on if we do this then I can no longer do that’.

‘But I am expert at gleaning information from my customers, suppliers, distributors to find out what is going on in the market’.

The time at which it is acknowledged better to identify, capture and control than to allow information flows to happen freely.?

Red Bull Racing

Chief F1 Designer Adrian Newey often wandered round the pit observing and listening, occasionally making notes with his pencil and notepad. He built a superlative F1 racing engineering career by being better informed and hence more innovative. Interestingly due to a quirk in his contract it appears he will not have to serve 2 years gardening leave and can start straight away at his new team!?

Why Should I Do This?

Why should I enact a trade secrets programme when it will mean it is more difficult for me to move and quickly add value to my new employer? Does this programme restrict my job mobility? Not really, but it restricts your ability to remove valuable information owned by someone else. A substantial amount of value is held in know-how, results, data, relationships and expertise, and the law says you are not free to remove and transfer this value from the company.?

Value additive or Value Destroying

When it comes down to it most readily accept that they are there to add value to the business, especially if the right structures, team spirit and incentives are in place. In this case the trade secrets programme makes more sense and the programme flows more easily. Senior management support is also vital in this endeavour.?

But We Are All Open Here.

Culturally this can be a challenge as engineers are generally ‘open’ in philosophy. You can still practise open innovation and have a professional trade secrets programme. Trade secrets are actively licensed just like any other form of IP and specially in collaboration. Without a trade secrets programme they will not be adequately protected and will therefore freely leave the business.

Most Businesses Are More Vulnerable Than They Realise

Most businesses are far more vulnerable than they realise to trade secrets misappropriation. The very act of starting a programme often crystallises what is important, valuable and needs protecting and this is just the start.

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