So What...? Should We Spill the Tea?

Um, uh, so but, um, we, we've talked on the pod...

the leadership podcast, uh, a, a number of times with people where the whole bringing your whole self to work and being open and vulnerable as a leader is, like, really important, um, in terms of building trust and relationships.

So obviously that, that's... there's that element of transparency.

And then I've worked in open data and data sharing for the past however many years, um, and making information available o- openly so people can use it, reuse it, and understand it as, like, a, a, a really important sort of, like, part of my career.

So I just wanted to sort of discuss that really and talk, and sort of get a view on what we th- we think about transparency.

So yeah, transparency.

So what?

There's a, there's a leadership angle.

There's a sort of technical angle as well.

So sh- well, let's chew on the leadership part first.

So, um, so I... see, we've had lots of leadership episodes, and we, we've spoken to lots of leaders, and there's, there's a lot of thought leadership out there at the moment on this subject.

And you're right, the word that keeps on coming up in my ears is authenticity, authenticity, authenticity.

And it's almost like old leaders weren't authentic.

They were the boss.

And o- o- you know, and old leaders actually weren't transparent for a reason, because there was a very solid hierarchy and, you know, we didn't want actually things to permeate those layers of the hierarchy.

So something's changed, right? So but did...

is that what you sort of see this transparency as, is the sort of move away from hierarchies, and it's a move away from being the boss to something else?

Um, the wa- well, the way I see it, I mean, I know I've cat- ... closed it before.

It's the difference between leadership and management.

Um, I think that what, what you're talking about in terms of hierarchical approaches is that m- there's, there's a management approach to things, which is the boss in a team knows how to do everything and then manages everybody else to do it, whereas leadership is not necessarily a function of hierarchy.

The fun- it's a function of people that have the capability of trusting others to do work, enabling them to do work, and then leading the direction that that work happens.

And it... whilst it may be your boss, it could also be a colleague, and I think th- there's a real difference between leadership and management in this context for me.

Yeah, they're kind of roles, aren't they, and, and their responsibilities.

If you're a manager and you're, you know, managing, directing a team, giving them action, supporting them, that's... that, that works when it's quite specific and when, when that's your role to support those people, help them, and, and keep maybe, you know, the team going in the right direction and, and to achieve the objectives.

I think where that kind of then falls down, and I'm sure we've all experienced this, is where the person who is the boss basically wants to be seen to be in charge, wants to have power, and that's where it...