<<< Date Index >>>     <<< Thread Index >>>

[council] GNSO Council meet and greet?



Council should bear in mind that there is sometimes an inherent conflict between transparency and freedom to dialogue.
 
For an individual, or small business there is likely to be no such conflict.
For an employee of a publicly quoted company or other organisation of reputation, there is a high likelihood of this conflict.
 
Typically an employee of such a company in the knowledge their comments may be publically archived in oral or written form will be constrained in what they are able to say by internal guidelines or practise. These guidelines will typically be established to protect the corporation from legal suit, to protect reputation or to protect the share price.
Given the choice of continual checking with in-house legal counsel and silence, they may choose silence.
 
If therefore Council has an ambition to have a frank exchange of views, separate from its central role of policy development, it should bear in mind the conflict that some Council members may be under through no fault of their own other than their choice of employer.
 
So _expression_ of outrage and calls of "Vive la transparence" may make good rhetoric but will lead to poorer dialogue.
 
Philip