Help
Sign In
conscious business
August 2007 
Transparent versus translucent
Steve
Prolific integral blogger (and fellow Zaadzster) C4Chaos asked a great question in connection with my previous post on The Paradox of Gaining Power Through Letting Go. He writes:
Great post Steve! So does egoless mean becoming see-through as well? Which is better, translucent or transparent? Just thinking out loud.
(C4Chaos' link goes to the cover story of the latest issue of Wired Magazine.)
I too was intrigued by the latest issue of Wired with its provocative title, Get Naked and Rule the World and it's racy peel back cover:
(Interesting to note that Wired put a nude woman on the cover of its magazine and then only quoted male CEOs in the article. And yes, I realize that my entire staff is male—we're working on that. But I digress...)
Wired makes the case for "radical transparency"—exposing every last detail of your company's internal processes to the world through blogging and other forms of direct communication with your customers. Their intention seems noble—transparency can drive a corporate culture of honesty and integrity. They give several examples of "transparency:"
- Redfin, an on-line real estate brokerage that blogs about their battles with traditional real estate agents;
- Southwest Airlines' strategy of allowing 30 employees to blog about their jobs and personal lives; and
- Zappos' use of corporate-wide wikis for reporting problems and suggesting solutions.
But it seems to me that these are not examples of 100% transparency—they are examples of good corporate communications and skillful customer relationship management.
I think conscious businesses should strive to be translucent—letting as much light through as possible without oversharing. Why? 3 reasons:
1. CEO's need to be free to experiment with their edge. Call it research & development, call it trying out a new way of being in the world—CEO's (and entire teams) need a safe space to experiment and risk failure before they are ready to unveil a brand or product to the world.So, as with most things, it's a balance. Conscious businesses want to have integrity, honesty, engaging corporate communication, and first rate customer service. They also want to be in relationship with customers, vendors, and the community—and often that will mean seeking their input and counsel. At the same time, few businesses are going to want to air every last detail of their internal processes (or lack thereof)—nor should they. Successful entrepreneurs understand that they need a safe space to innovate and to do the work required to develop and grow (personally and as an organization).
2. Good leaders manage expectations. Too much information too soon can ratchet up and concretize expectations in ways that limit your ability to innovate and deliver.
3. Beware of hive mind. It is certainly true that there can be wisdom in crowds. But the danger of asking self selecting crowds to give input into everything you do is that you may end up trying to be everything to everybody.
Access: Public
thanks Steve. i definitely agree with you. when it comes to conscious business translucency is a more accurate analogy than 100% transparency. i think transparency is important with regards to the mission and vision of the business and it's financial reports to stakeholders, but transluceny serves better in actual day to day practice.
as they say, it takes shit to make seeds grow. but we don't have to toss out the shit to the people we serve :)
~C
great post!
Transparency seems to work best when a business or organization moves beyond the atmosphere of competition and into an approach of serving the world (offering something that the world actively needs). Businesses that seek to serve the world can experiment and innovate right out in the open, because they share the same goals as the public, and they are working for everyone's interests. That way, when failure occurs, everyone (the whole world) has a personal interest in figuring out what didn't work, why it didn't work, and how to make it work better next time. And with everyone on your side, it makes sense to be as transparent as possible, because you want as many minds as possible to be able to contribute to your efforts.
In my experience, you generally don't have to worry about offering up too much information, because people natually self-select what information they are interested in, and filter out the stuff they don't need. And that works in both directions: the public will focus on the info that is most useful to them, and you will focus on the info that is most useful to you. And as long as your information is as accurate and realistic as possible, sharing it with those who share your goals can only increase your success.
Though, obviously, not a lot of businesses or organaizations have the capacity to move beyond the competition model right now. But, I imagine it's where we are heading, as society moves forward in it's collective development, and starts to fully integrate the Integral model of creating the greatest depth for the greatest span.
Steve…..agreee….sometimes of course transparency is ALREADY a great progress. Translucency emrges….next……..what I do NOT use anymore are terms like enlightened business or spiritual business….as LOTS of misunderstandings and phonyclaims are often connected with it.
I liked your conversation with Keith Bellamy at ILR. Lots to say ..I am sure here at Zaadz and elswhere there will be significant moves and considerations moving towards next level.
Best for your new endevor,
Albert