Transparency means a company is open and honest about its plans and operations, and its employees are open and honest with one another and with customers. Buffer is a company that publishes and analyzes social media, and they made headlines when they announced that their top core value was “default to transparency.” They embrace radical transparency, and their website publishes their equity formula, everyone’s salary, their revenues, pricing, and more. Courtney Seiter, Buffer’s Director of People states, One huge benefit is that the team has full context of everything that’s going on at any time . . . that gives everyone full context to make connections we might otherwise have missed to put together ideas that may have not happened otherwise, and to have the full trust in the team because they understand the full context of what’s going on....

Discussion Questions

1. Visit Buffer’s transparency dashboard at buffer.com/transparency%20. Discuss one of the areas in which Buffer publishes data on their company.

2. What are the possible downsides of so much transparency? For example, would knowing coworkers’ salaries create jealousy? Would you worry if you saw a downward trend in the company’s revenues?

3. Would you want to work for an organization that had a transparent culture? Why or why not?