Leading in the Age of Super-Transparency

Every day, images or events with the potential to incite passions get captured digitally, get posted to the Web, and go viral. With social media, people share their experiences with friends or followers, who then share with more people. Within a short space of time, incidents can strike a nerve with a nascent virtual community. Evocative images and events have always propelled causes and controversies, but not always from such obscure, unexpected, or geographically remote sources or with such speed. The capacity to generate causes and controversies almost instantly is perhaps the most salient aspect of the super-transparent society, which has rapidly become a new norm. Your success in maintaining the integrity of your data depends on your ability to imagine all of the different ways information might flow in a flood. The much-vaunted Internet of things has already invaded our homes and businesses, and unbeknownst to many people, it has the potential to transmit lots of data about what we do or what we say. Managing your image has become a new game, and being prepared to respond quickly, especially to information that is incorrect, is a big part of it.