Believing, as we do, in transparency, openness and full disclosure, it’s perhaps not surprising that we’re asked frequently whether or not we can keep secrets. Or maybe it’s just that a lot of our customers compete with each other. Either way, I have been asked precisely that question at least half a dozen times in the last week or two (there’s a lot going on, and no I can’t tell you about it).
I’ve answered this question periodically before, but just as a reminder, let me state clearly and for the record: if I can’t keep secrets, I can’t do my job. It really is that simple.
It doesn’t matter if I’m sitting on top secret product announcements or just where you’re interviewing, as long as you’ve made it clear to me what is and what is not secret I’ll respect that. If there’s even a question as to whether something is secret or not, I default to “is secret.” So if you’re trying to get us to break NDAs, I’d just say don’t bother – it’s not happening.
We’re not in the business of breaking news here at RedMonk; big portions of what we do, in fact, will likely never be known – hidden, as they are, behind the shrouds of corporate secrecy and non-disclosures. That’s an acceptable trade off, as far as I’m concerned, for the trust our customers and contacts and so on have in our ability to keep secrets.
So feel free to keep telling us “you’re not going to blog this, right?” because being explicit is never a bad thing, but know that if we already know the subject is secret it was never an issue in the first place.
James Governor says:
March 13, 2007 at 8:04 am
thats all good and right on Stephen – well said. but secrecy does have a cost. when non-clients (or trusted friend people) ask us to keep too many secrets it becomes a drag really fast. As Steve says we’re not really in the business of breaking news. or writing puff piece white papers ahead of time. so secrecy is good, but it does carry an administrative cost.
Christopher Mahan says:
March 13, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Which is why I would be horrible at that job. If it’s in my brain, it’s mine to share as I please.
Of course, I do let people know that.
Do I keep secrets? You bet. Can people ask me to keep secrets? No.
Mike Dolan says:
March 13, 2007 at 4:37 pm
So the fact that you keep secrets about customer secrets is not a secret anymore? 🙂
I tire of NDA and confidentiality restrictions – often it’s also difficult for those on the other side to also remember what’s “public” and what’s not.
An exec I work closely with hosted a session recently and afterwards asked me “Did I just announce X for the first time publicly? That wasn’t much of a launch if it was!” – everyone stumbles here and there.
sogrady says:
March 21, 2007 at 1:10 am
James: agreed on the cost. was careful to make that point in the RedMonk.com FAQ.
Christopher: 😉 to each their own, of course.
Mike: damn, i mean, no, that’s a secret 😉 amen on the public vs private. for us, honestly, when we’re asked on something we’re not sure is public, we’ll almost always just decline to comment. which probably isn’t going to help you market your news.
tecosystems » The Startup’s Guide to Working With RedMonk says:
November 11, 2009 at 5:43 pm
[…] Does RedMonk keep secrets? A: Yes. As we’ve said before, many times, if you can’t keep secrets, you can’t do this job. We’re trusted with […]