James Bond’s boss and transparency in organizations

Sir John Sawers is the UK’s Permanent Representative at the UN. If we feel so inclined, we can easily find out quite a lot about him: we can view photos of him in bathing trunks, photos with his mother, with the girlfriends of his sons, and consult his own private address. All of this information has not been disclosed by some “dangerous” foreign spy network but by Facebook. It seems that nobody informed Mr Sawers’ wife that her husband was going to be appointed to head up the British Secret Service, known as MI6, and she innocently uploaded all kinds of data and family photos, without restricting access. Hardly what the doctor ordered for James Bond’s future boss! His job is now in jeopardy, and it’s not difficult to see why. That’s the way things work in today’s world: we have access to everything (or at least almost everything, and if in addition you upload information on Facebook , it makes the task of finding out that little bit easier).

Increased transparency is without doubt one of the major changes which the Internet is bringing about. The Iranian dissidents, for example, are shaking the very foundations of the system by using Twitter or e-mails. Anyone in Iran can be a journalist and upload photos and videos on the Web, and in the process raise the hackles of those with Taliban-like tendencies. In Germany, on the other hand, it appears that some recruiting firms are fleshing out information about applicants by surfing the Web for information about them (which raises issues of the right to privacy that are not easy to resolve). This could be coming to a company near you, soon.

For many people transparency is dangerous, not so much because others can see them in their swimsuit, as because it becomes clear to all who contributes what and how. Before the days of modern information technology, people kept secrets under lock and key in order to preserve their power. If, as happens today, information is freely circulating on the Web, what added value is provided by someone whose only job is to keep the keys? So, the good news is that the advent of transparency means the death of those jobs focussed exclusively on keeping information secret. The more managers instil transparency in their organizations, the greater the added value that will be created. Anyone not sure about this should take care, otherwise he could suffer the same fate as James Bond’s boss.

Be Sociable, Share!

•