Time and time again, businesses and organizations make decisions without publicly providing the rationale, and that usually riles up their audiences (e.g. stakeholders, customers, shareholders, etc.). This is one reason why transparency is important.
Now let’s look at the upcoming Olympics in Rio.
Seven years ago, the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted for Rio to host the 2016 Olympic Games over Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo. I was not alone in being stunned by the decision. Sure, South America has never played host to an Olympics, but the other cities were better suited for such a monumental task.
In the first round of voting, Madrid was first with 28 votes, and Chicago was last with 18 votes. I’ve read speculation that Chicago didn’t get many first-round votes because everyone assumed the city would win, and voters were trying to help the other cities save face.
Now that fateful day could have some major repercussions.
Forget the Zika virus. Rio’s major obstacle to a successful Olympic Games is Rio itself. A recent New York Times op-ed paints a picture of how far behind construction is, the crime near the Olympic arenas, the lack of leadership and the budget shortfall. How worried are you if you are an Olympic athlete or a fan that plans on attending?
To this day, IOC members have not revealed why they voted the way they did. Being transparent removes foul play and corruption from the equation. When you explain how you came to a decision, however difficult, you’ll at least achieve informed consent.
In a time when we’ve seen leaders from FIFA get charged with corruption, transparency in sports–and all industries–is more important than ever.
As any small business owner knows, it’s not easy being in business. That’s why, in my acceptance speech for the 2016