Transparency in business: What's the value?

Most executives are quick to dismiss things like "transparency" and "communication" as soft or fluffy skills not relevant to revenue growth. But, ahem... they are, and majorly so.

Transparency in business has always been a big deal to me -- I've written posts about changing meeting structures to foster transparency and creating a culture of trust through transparency, for example -- but in general, most people I've ever worked with who have any degree of organizational authority (i.e. senior decision-makers) tend to poo-poo trans…