Great article! Reminds me of Ray Dalio’s “Radical Transparency Model.”
Also the power of “why” can’t be underestimated. “I need you to do this because I said so,” is a far cry from, “I need you to do this, it came out of nowhere and I’m finishing up the annual reports for the deadline, thanks so much.”
Do you NEED to give an explanation, maybe not. Does it make a difference… ALL The Difference!
My two favorite points: 1) "In the absence of facts, humans will make up their own stories, and they’re rarely ever good." Put this on the door entering your leadership office. 2) The Harvard Business Review study findings about how much more stressed employees become. That's a critical finding.
Matlow gets it right: truth and transparency are essential for trust. But treating them as leadership habits rather than systemic requirements misses the deeper point. Trust isn’t just about being honest during layoffs. It’s about building architectures where truth isn’t optional, where people can interrogate, question, and co-own decisions.
In environments shaped by AI, automation, and power asymmetries, trust can’t be based on vibes. It must be structured, measurable, and resilient, designed to withstand uncertainty rather than collapse under it. Emotional fluency, strategic restraint, and operational coherence are not soft skills. They are the infrastructure of legitimacy.
Matlow’s advice is great for your next all-hands. But if we want organizations and democracies that don’t run like Ponzi schemes, we need more than candor. We need systems that don’t depend on hero leaders to tell the truth. We need trustable defaults.
Because when facts disappear, people don’t just get scared. They get manipulated. And that’s how power cheats its way into permanence.
Great article! Reminds me of Ray Dalio’s “Radical Transparency Model.”
Also the power of “why” can’t be underestimated. “I need you to do this because I said so,” is a far cry from, “I need you to do this, it came out of nowhere and I’m finishing up the annual reports for the deadline, thanks so much.”
Do you NEED to give an explanation, maybe not. Does it make a difference… ALL The Difference!
100% agree on everything you are saying. It definitely can’t be underestimated
My two favorite points: 1) "In the absence of facts, humans will make up their own stories, and they’re rarely ever good." Put this on the door entering your leadership office. 2) The Harvard Business Review study findings about how much more stressed employees become. That's a critical finding.
Matlow gets it right: truth and transparency are essential for trust. But treating them as leadership habits rather than systemic requirements misses the deeper point. Trust isn’t just about being honest during layoffs. It’s about building architectures where truth isn’t optional, where people can interrogate, question, and co-own decisions.
In environments shaped by AI, automation, and power asymmetries, trust can’t be based on vibes. It must be structured, measurable, and resilient, designed to withstand uncertainty rather than collapse under it. Emotional fluency, strategic restraint, and operational coherence are not soft skills. They are the infrastructure of legitimacy.
Matlow’s advice is great for your next all-hands. But if we want organizations and democracies that don’t run like Ponzi schemes, we need more than candor. We need systems that don’t depend on hero leaders to tell the truth. We need trustable defaults.
Because when facts disappear, people don’t just get scared. They get manipulated. And that’s how power cheats its way into permanence.