Responsible Transparency

Transparency is one of those topics that stays in the forefront of my mind because of all the different venues in which I am seen and heard.  I ran across an article on the content that music artists release about themselves on Twitter a while back (found here).  They mention how destructive your comments can be to a career and I think it’s necessary to mention that here.

I like the way Sharon Lechter describes transparency in Why We Want You To Be Rich:

“1. Free from pretence or deceit

2. Sheer enough to be seen through.

3. Readily understood.”

I think people often mistake transparency in not being “fake” as meaning they have to tell people everything, exactly as they think and feel.  This isn’t the case though, what it does mean is: in everything you do say or represent, just don’t lie.

In the second part of being transparent Sharon talks about the idea of “sheer.”  Being selective is important when presenting who you are because of security issues but also there needs to be a standard of professionalism present.  The standard is different for every industry and has to be congruent with your goals, vision and approach.

The article I initially referenced is probably most relevant when we discuss transparency in light of being “readily understood.”  If you make a statement without consideration of your audience you are only setting yourself up for misunderstandings, of course those can be disastrous to your career.

If done appropriately and take into consideration things like lingo, how your audience perceives you already, and what exactly are you trying to achieve, transparency can be a very powerful tool.