From Expectation to Affirmation: An Inquiry Into Transparency and Trust
April 23, 2009
By John Bloom
The concept of transparency seems to be at the forefront of every discussion about our economy of late, and the majority of those discussions presume that the reader or listener knows what transparency means. I confess to being bothered by such presumptions—thus, this inquiry into transparency. It is an abstract concept, but one essential to our relationships and economic life. I hope one outcome of this brief inquiry is a deepened understanding of what is often the root cause of the call for transparency, namely, mistrust. Further, that transparency, understood in its full implications, can transform mistrust into a new and conscious trust, an essential ingredient for healing our economy and opening us up to a positive imagination for the future.
Transparency and trust are inextricably linked in human affairs, though transparency is best understood as a means, not an end; and trust is not a thing but rather a desirable multi-faceted (my assumption) state of being that guides our actions.
What does transparency mean then in the context of finances? Most of us experience transparency in simple physics terms as we gaze out our windows to see the world with varying degrees of clarity. If we are moved to clear the film away in order to have a fuller, less mediated view, we are pointing to a process based upon increased visibility. In finances, if you cannot perceive or track what is going on with the transactions and “the numbers,” seeking disclosure through auditing would be the parallel to window cleaning. The purpose and outcome would be to trust what you see.
But there are questions about finances that reach deeper than visibility and delve into the realm of assumptions. This is where transparency is no longer solely about facts or appearances, but rather about the conceptual aspects that drive the numbers and transactions. This quality of transparency is about making the invisible visible—not what or how much, but rather the why of transactions. Of course, formulating and exposing assumptions takes us into the realm of values and judgment, and more importantly into the realm of reciprocity. By this I mean that transparency is a two-way process. We look out the window, while the rest of world can equally look in at us. Digging into the assumptions behind financial transactions, our own values and assumptions arise quite naturally as expectations about what we absorb of and reflect upon the information. Once we are comfortable with the assumptions and the resultant numbers, another level of trust emerges, one not as much tied to visibility, as it is to a quality of reciprocity. After all, the numbers represent human economic activity, and we expect to be able to see into that activity through the transactional agreement or accounting of it. This is no small feat. What hopefully becomes apparent through the reciprocal exploration is an affirmation of assumed values and intentions—a moment of deeper trust. Without this affirmation, unresolved expectations can lead to a kind of quiet conflict common to but often unaddressed in financial considerations.
Transparency and trust take another leap when there is an affirmation of mutual intentions among all parties to the transaction. This commonality of intention represents the possibility of a third level of trust that reaches through reciprocity and beyond agreement to a sense of shared vision, or appreciation of a common purpose. This level of trust engages a kind of idealism and engenders all manner of economic initiative and innovation.
In a way, there are three forms of trust that accompany financial transactions: trust in matter, or the observable; trust in others, their truth or integrity; and trust in spirit, or common intention. While transparency may on some levels feel like a right, as it is primarily treated in our current political debate on economics, it is also a vehicle for reaching trust in the three realms of matter, relationships, and common destiny. Thus the practice of transparency in finance, with full respect for the rights of privacy and safety, is an essential tool for transforming our economic future.
John Bloom is the Director of Organizational Culture at RSF Social Finance. If you enjoyed this post, read more of John’s work here: transformingmoney.blogspot.com.
- Published by John Bloom
- Categories: Economy, Money
You said: “The concept of transparency seems to be at the forefront of every discussion about our economy of late, and the majority of those discussions presume that the reader or listener knows what transparency means. I confess to being bothered by such presumptionsthus, this inquiry into transparency. It is an abstract concept, but one essential to our relationships and economic life.”
A proper book-keeping records a reusable history. “Transparency” in a proper book-keeping is the power to go back into the records and reconstruct a history of events is order to prove the accountability of facts as they occurred when the history was recorded by the book-keeper. In the tradition of book-keeper’s that ability to reconstruct historical facts is named “The Audit Trail.”
The reason you hear so much about “transparency” and its negative aspect, “opaqueness” is that book-keeping performed by computer software has never learned to generate a proper audit trail. This loss of book-keeping technology from paper driven systems, which had their heyday 50 years ago, to software driven systems today stands at the center of today’s financial melt-down.
The melt-down will not be resolved until the proper book-keeping framework is refined into practice. I would be pleased to share my experiences on how the renewal of a proper book-keeping can take place.
Comment by Dan Palanza — May 5, 2009 @ 8:09 am
Mr. Palanza,
Thanks for your interest in the posting and your comments on the issue of transparency. It is interesting to me that accounting as you portray it is tied to accountability, that aspect of governance which is so sorely lacking in our opaque financial world. Assumptions and intentions are hard to quantify, though they are essential to understanding the world of money and other related transactions. Interestingly, our sustainability hangs in the balance.
Comment by John Bloom — May 12, 2009 @ 10:28 pm