Why Radical Transparency (With Staff and Customers) Is Good for Business During the pandemic, entrepreneurs shared information like never before. That's not going away.
By Stephanie Schomer •

In times of crisis, experts often have the same advice: Be transparent. There's good reason for that. "People see the news; they can read the writing on the wall," says Ana Mendy, a partner with consulting firm McKinsey & Company. "Transparency is how leaders build trust. We call it "candor over charisma.' "
At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, most businesses took that advice. They started by sharing the literal lifesaving measures they'd taken to keep communities safe, but then something shifted, Mendy says. Businesses began sharing in ways they'd never done before — opening up about their day-to-day struggles, and starting very public dialogues with worried or confused customers. "Before, our clients would have never thought to do something broad-based on Zoom or in a two-way format," Mendy says. And now, she doesn't think it'll ever go away. "I expect the mode of communication may also shift moving forward in a way that flattens organizations and puts leaders at the center."
Continue reading this article — and all of our other premium content with Entrepreneur+
Join the internet’s leading entrepreneur community! With your subscription you’ll get:
- Access to all of our premium content and an ad-free experience
- A complimentary subscription to Entrepreneur Magazine
- Four free e-books a year and 20% off everything from our bookstore
- Exclusive events with business celebrities and successful entrepreneurs