Transparency

Would you trust a business partner who is not transparent with his business negotiations or seems to hide information from you with regards to the business? What about trusting someone who you have caught hiding his cell phone just because you passed behind him/her? Transparency is a very important quality that can be applied in business as well as in the personal aspect of life. As I say in my Quote, if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t have anything to fear.

Wikipedia says that “Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities, and in other social contexts, is operating in such a way that it is easy to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability”. Therefore, if you as a colleague, business partner, friend or romantic partner, hide information or certain knowledge that might affect directly that relationship; then you are not being transparent.

I think that these days transparency is a behavior that is becoming scarce. People hide too many things. They portray a false image of themselves in social media, but the reality is different. And this happens in every area, whether it is personally or professionally. I have seen many professionals portraying an image of themselves and then find out that they were sexually harassing their employees or turned out to be corrupted. We all have seen them on the News! Business executives accused of fraud or sexual harassment. We have also seen celebrities caught cheating or turning out to be abusive partners or having addictions, but we never thought of them as being that way because they portray a false image to the public.

I think that life could be so much better and easier if people could just be real and honest. I am still going through a process of growth, but it is hard for me to understand how there can be so many people out there pretending to be someone they are not. Isn’t that more difficult? Why pretend? Why hide? It is the same as lying. If you think that your business partner won’t agree with acquiring a certain account, it is better to communicate and come clean than it is to do things behind his/her back. If you are in a relationship and speaking with other people, why even be in a relationship? I just don’t get it. I understand that sometimes there are difficult things to communicate, but I believe that being truthful and transparent is better than being a liar or a hoax. If we all follow the “Golden Rule”, as John Maxwell calls it, life would be so much better for everyone. And what’s the Golden Rule? “It is the principle of treating others as you would want to be treated”. So, unless you don’t mind being tricked or lied to, you should always be transparent.