The fine line between corporate transparency and giving away the store

People, by their nature, are curious.

Over the past few years, I’ve been given the unique opportunity to speak to individuals getting into the media business.  From that lot, nearly all of them have questions about how we do business.  Of those questions, nearly half involve how we very specifically do business.  I had a similar conversation this week, and I thought I would contrast corporate transparency with teaching strangers how to use InDesign.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m pleased that the next generation of media moguls takes time out of their busy day to ask my advice.  As it stands, I’m only a very small media mogul at best and am still learning many of the ropes as I go.

Although I’m sure Rupert would give me a hand up if I asked nicely, for the most part I’ve had to learn how to run this business myself.  I’ve made a few smart decisions (mostly involving the brilliant people that write the words we sell), a number of resonable decisions (mostly about our cover prices), and a number of really dumb decisions (too many to list).  The point is that we, as a company, had to make those decisions on our own.

I expect you budding media moguls to do the same.  Not because I fear the competition you’ll create, but because learning to do it yourself is key to running a successful business.  Although you might appreciate me writing your business plan for you, and showing you exactly how we pre-process files for the printer, in the end I’m going to retire and you’ll have to do some of the work yourself.  It would be better for everyone if you start now.

My title is misleading.  Corporate transparency is a customer facing concept.  It give our readers a glimpse into the inner working of the business, but at the same time it doesn’t give away all our precious, precious secrets.  Empire Consolidated stands behind corporate transparency because we believe it’s good for the customers, and what’s good for our customers is good for us. It’s like magic!

So next time you ask how exactly my business is run, don’t be offended if I introduce you to Google.  It’s for your own good.