Recent studies, including the “Future of Jobs Survey” from World Economic Forum (2016), state that social skills are fundamental to ensure success in all industries. At the core of social skills, I see sincerity and transparency to make the most impact.

The amount of information available today allows people to quickly learn and become informed about almost any subject. Holding up information is therefore difficult and can lead to destruction of trust between individuals.

If information is so widely available, why do we keep hiding and protecting our information? My hypothesis is that people still believe this is a source of power.

Our work requires collaboration, our careers depend on how our teams perform and we depend on others to learn and to innovate. The more informed the people that collaborate with you are, the more changes we have to succeed. Trust them and they you will win their trust back. Be sincere in your opinions and don’t hide behind additional information or knowledge.

I find it much more useful to live in a transparent world and build trust around me than to waste my energy fighting to protect or collect pieces of information.