Tactical Transparency New Media Expo

Tactical Transparency: The Value of Getting Personal in Business John C. Havens Shel Holtz

How did we get here?

It is in an organization’s best interests to be transparent to a degree beyond that which is required by law

Transparency is… The degree to which an organization shares the following with its stakeholder publics

Leaders

Employees

Values

Culture

Results of its business practices

Business strategy

Transparency is not… Full Disclosure

“ Blogging didn’t invent the disgruntled customer.” -- John “CZ” Czwartacki

The tools of transparency but also

What is tactical transparency? “ If Microsoft — a company that is somewhat controlling and secretive —can embrace the risks and uncertainties associated with letting people blog without filtering, then maybe everybody can.” -- Chris Anderson

“ When you recognize that with transparency comes airing some of your dirty laundry and with that dirty laundry comes people’s perception that you’re being open and honest, then you have to be comfortable in saying things in public that may be misinterpreted or misunderstood or used by your enemies. And that’s a scary process but that’s how you get to authenticity.” -- Chris Anderson

Leaders

Employees

“ A person like me is the most trusted corporate spokesperson”

Click Link to See “The Green Dot” from the Deloitte Film Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id0uHBuhXtY

Values

Processes & Results

Strategy

“ My feelings are that [Even] if you don’t provide a blog, or something like it for your company, people are going to talk about you and your products so why not provide them an environment where people can talk in front of you and not behind you. I’d rather you yelled at me directly than behind my back; this way I can at least explain where I’m coming from.” -- Cindi Bigelow

Transparency in the sales process

Get specific

Make small talk big

Make your presentation interactive

Give a call to action

Write down a connection point

Practice good timing

Follow up

Don’t “close”; partner

“ Transparency is just another way to be willing to engage with the marketplace. I don’t just sell to my customers, I love my customers, I embrace my customers and ask them to embrace me, I ask them for their insights and input. As a result, the products we build become assets of those communities. Somebody who feels part of a community is going to be a much more aggressive evangelist for our products than someone who just paid $29.95 for it at a big-box retailer.”

Other observations

Have policies in place

Other observations

Be authentic

Other observations

Be authentic

Be accessible

“ If you’re going to be naked, you’d better be buff”

Transparency Roadmap

Assess the Current State

Tools

Culture

Find Your Voice

Create an Action Plan

Prepare Change Initiative

Copyright applies to this document – some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-non commercial-share alike 3.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 Questions? John C. Havens