Transparency is the Key to Honest Communication

I read this Chris Brogan post over the weekend and it reinforced the importance of transparency in honest communications with your community.

I write a blog about real, authentic and sustainable, yet I reached a point yesterday when I knew my current schedule was no longer sustainable. I’ve enjoyed working 12-14 hour days more often than not since January. I’ve done good work. I’ve realigned this blog. I’ve realigned ColorMetrix. Cheryl and I continue to realign and improve our marriage. There’s the rub, the last item which is the most important has been getting the least attention.

I will no longer be a slave to email. Most successful people (like those who read this blog) have crossed this threshold or will eventually. Tim Ferriss writes about email in The 4-Hour Work Week. Michael Hyatt writes about email bankruptcy on his blog. Many others have written great things about how to handle email. I’ve chosen to combine advice and ideas from Tim and Michael. I chose to honestly and transparently communicate this change to my community via this email autoresponder.

My virtual hosting providing Slicehost cares about communication transparency to have made this post about unscheduled maintenance on their status page and to tweet about. I saw the tweet and immediately thought “oh that’s not good.” Then, I thought “but once again they are honest and transparent in their communications so I don’t wonder what’s going on.” I don’t always like the truth but at least I can make sound decisions armed with the truth – thanks Slicehost.

So, there you have my take on the importance of transparent communication. Does it square with how you see it? Is your feeling about transparency in communications different for business and personal communications?  Let me know.