Corporate transparency: It's hip, it's real, it's the buzzword every well-spoken exec is mouthing these days. It's one constructive result of the Enron Era: recognition that customers, employees, and shareholders know more about businesses than ever before--and that managers best seize the moment to change their ways.
In The Transparency Edge, Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano tell how to get there. Think of it as a primer for the executive who, forced from his cave, has to reckon with sudden mass scrutiny. The Paganos, a leadership expert and a business reporter (and mother and daughter), respectively, treat transparency as an integral component of any management initiative. Companies, they argue, must embrace "responsible transparency" for leaders to establish the credibility they need to inspire commitment.
And so, The Transparency Edge outlines nine behaviors leaders must cultivate. Ready? (Pay attention. There really will be a quiz later.)
Here's the real point: Deliver as much information, as quickly as possible, to as many people who matter as possible. Worried you're giving away too much? The Paganos offer strategies for countering such fear of exposure. For one, they make a powerful argument for 360-degree assessment: It's an antidote for the top executive who has become accustomed only to giving orders.
This won't come easily to most execs. But come it must. The Transparency Edge makes clear that any company's credibility program starts with transparency--and transparency starts with leaders themselves.
