Leadership, Management & Life in the Workplace
  • Blog
  • About John
  • Decoding the Workplace
  • Dr. Juran AIG Archival Project
  • Contact
  • Disclaimers

The Transparent Leader

12/26/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Carmine Gallo had a thoughtful article, December 26, 2012, in Forbes on-line. Gallo talked about Zappos, acquired by Amazon in 2009. Zappos is known for its strong employee and customer friendly culture. It has a culture book of over 400 pages. Gallo makes five points about Zappos, each of which underscores the culture. But one point stood out to me. Gallo wrote about the Zappos commitment to transparency and questioned, “The next time you think you’re a ‘transparent leader’, ask yourself if you’re willing to open up your home to anyone who asks for a free tour.”

Discussions of transparent leaders have been more common in popular management literature than in the academic literature. My research did not find any scholarly peer-reviewed studies about transparency and leadership.

Blogging in 2009 Colleen J. Payne-Nabors defined transparency as “the ability to clearly see the relationship between oneself and one’s environment. Transparent leaders know their strengths and weakness but, above all, know who they are and how their actions impact the actions of others.”  She listed five characteristics of transparent leaders. Here is her list on being a transparent leader, with my thoughts:

1. “Share Information.”

Not always easy. There are some aspects of leading that require confidentiality, sometimes legally required. I think the key is creating a culture of trust where leaders can share most of what is happening, where the organization is going, how we plan to get there. My consulting experience has been that most employees want to know a lot more than their leaders are typically sharing. Knowing the big picture may be helpful in the trenches in ways leaders may not foresee.

2. “Convey Your Principles and Beliefs.”

Interesting in that some who have achieved significant organizational influence may not have thought this one through. I have an acquaintance who, in reflecting back at his early career and decisions in his corporate positions now has regrets. He now clearly can convey his principles and beliefs – but he could not then. To convey your principles and beliefs, you have to know what they are. That takes time for reflection and self-examination.

3. “Be Trustworthy and Reliable.”

First point of the Boy Scout law. A Scout is trustworthy. I think there is a reason it is number one. To lead a culture where trust is a value, one must be trustworthy, consistently trustworthy.

In The Transparent Leader: How to Build a Great Company through Straight Talk, Openness, and Accountability, Herb Baum wrote:

“I think America is tired. Tired of seeing dishonest people run companies and be rewarded for doing it. Tired of seeing the little guy trounced on and tired of hearing about CEOs who earn millions more than their average employee.” (p.178)

Even more true today, in my opinion, than in 2004 when Baum published.

4. “Listen to Your Inner Voice”

This speaks to confidence and knowing who you are. And taking the time to hear and heed the inner voice.

5. Admit When You are Wrong and Learn from It

Over the years my students have conducted hundreds of interviews on decision-making, a course assignment by which to learn aspects of business research. Consistently at all levels most managers interviewed state that you must admit when you are wrong and correct. To not do so would usually be shortsighted. My guess is that if you exhibit the other four behaviors, this one will be second nature. 


Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/61023128@N08/5553412207/
Used with permission: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

© John Ballard, PhD, 2012. All rights reserved.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    RSS Feed