Everyone loves to talk about how transparent they are, but are they?
Being transparent is one of those ephemeral things without an immediate ROI. Hence why a lot of businesses just claim they’re doing it, but never stick with it.
Why should you even be transparent in the first place?
I think it comes down to two advantages:
- Transparency creates trust
- Transparency educates
The first is pretty clear, when you show the behind the scenes, people tend to trust you because they automatically think that’s “how you operate”. It bleeds into everything else you do.
But the second – education – is something a lot of businesses overlook.
When you’re transparent and hold your audience by the hand through your processes, operations, and culture, you build a level of awareness about what you do that they didn’t have before.
You inject a certain costliness into your brand.
Whenever I record a Youtube video showing how I teardown a website, and where I use my methodology, people see that I worked pretty hard to come up with it. That I put the effort to at least differentiate my craft.
Result: they value my work more than if I’d simply tweeted about it, for example.
That’s the power of true transparency.
Another great example I read about recently, comes from the Copenhagen Design Festival. From an article:
“The festival is held not in trade halls but in buildings across the city; guests are welcomed into the offices and workshops of companies that are based here. Attendees receive a glimpse of how design businesses actually operate.”
Love it, it’s basically like taking your potential customers through your website. But in real life.
How can you be more transparent? The benefits will far outweigh the costs.
P.S. Thanks for the amazing person who subscribed lately, we got to 60 subs on my super newbie Youtube channel! New video coming next week.
Quote and reflection of the day:
“Ironically, some great performances can happen when you’re hurt, sick, or injured. Why? Because you don’t have any energy to waste. You have to perform more efficiently and more precisely. I know that personally. I’ve done some of my best surfing injured.”
- Laird Hamilton, Force of Nature
Limitations and constraints can often be powerful forces for motion. Don’t discount them, embrace them.
