1. HONESTY, OPENNESS & TRADE SECRETS
By Jim Huddleston, Partner; Crawford, Huddleston & Co., LLP
Between common, expensive, head-to-head competition and thoughtful, innovative collaboration is
the imaginative identification & use of (available) human trust. When business interests first decide
to work together, they often execute a non-disclosure agreement. The timid don’t even go there—
fearful that exposure of internal details might harm them in some yet-to-be-considered way. There
are 2 versions of this fear; one where the actor is the owner (of the secrets)—worried about his
edge, and the other where the actor is an employee (of the owner)—worried about his job.
In an effort toward a better marketplace, consider (specifically) what happens if someone tells your
secrets? Legitimate trade secrets can be the proprietary results of expensive testing or
development—maybe a scientific formula or special recipe—that must be protected because once
it’s out, its competitive value is forever lost. Most of the time, collaboration does not deal with that
level of intellectual property. Usually, we are talking about pricing, product details, maybe a
customer or prospect list of some kind. What we are protecting has 2 sides; reality and perception.
We may hide the reality that 80% of our business comes from a single customer or
we may encourage the perception that a relationship with an important customer is
more than it really is. Back to trust—we only explore collaboration with people of
good character—people with whom we can be honest about our business.
One of the ways we develop and build on that trust is by “coming clean” with the truth—especially
when we share that truth with a prospective competitor. By putting (some of) our cards on the
table, we make our case that together, we might accomplish more. The (soft) invitation to make a
competitor into a collaborator is a strong message—one that is hard to resist without coming
across as a jackass. If the would-be target rejects your concept of win-win, you wouldn’t have
wanted him/her as a partner anyway. That being the case, what do you have to lose?
We protect risk; not by hiding from it, but rather, by exploring it and creating a pro-active insurance
of sorts. Ask yourself, what, exactly, are you afraid the competitor will do with your secrets? Write
those things into the non-disclosure and ask him to sign it. Yesterday’s tough guy method of
“playing your cards close to your vest” is an unsophisticated communication strategy—a child can
do that. One day the game will end. People will ask what kind of business man/woman you were.
The answer will come from rivers crossed—not bridges burned. Negotiating collaboration is the
kind of innovation that makes a difference, leaving a legacy of cooperation in place of competition.
More information at www.crawfordhuddleston.com