Disclosure.
That’s not a word companies are familiar with and more importantly an action they are not comfortable taking. As PR professionals we are constantly encouraging our clients to speak out—be open with the public. While even with our best clients, we always seem to hit limits where a magical line is drawn and can never be erased.
Wired magazines April issue tackles the idea that the future of business is the act of companies exposing themselves to the world—leaving themselves open to discussion and not scandal. One of its lead articles appropriately titled, “Operation Channel 9” discusses the launch of a website called Channel 9. The website created by Lenn Pryor a Junior Executive at Microsoft, is a project that stripped Microsoft of its barriers and featured footage (often raw and unedited) that went behind enemy lines and disclosed a lot more than what executives and its PR team wanted too. The thought behind Channel 9 is that it’s not a trend, but a business practice that’s the wave of the future.. As a PR Pro I encourage my clients to share their thoughts, practices and corporate culture with the rest of the world. Disclosing and being open will help build trust amongst the public, especially in a corporate environment where people don’t have confidence that companies will “do the right thing”—causing us to create legislation like Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and Fair Disclosure, Regulation FD.
Bottom line, if you have nothing to hide then flaunt away. What are your thoughts? Is this the future we are headed for?
by Daniel Moran
