People who are not transparent are secretive and attempt to hide their thoughts and feelings. They hold back the truth about themselves and may pretend to be something they are not.

Leaders who lack transparency have teams with a shallow sense of respect, trust, loyalty, and motivation because of unclear and questionable decisions and actions.

If a team is uncertain about a leader’s transparency, the team will not fully trust the leader.

Enemies of Transparency:

• SELF-PROTECTION: The fear of being known and rejected is the biggest barrier to transparency. We hide the truth and pretend to be what we are not to protect our feelings.
• EGO: An inflated view of yourself can drive you to hide the cracks in your character or performance. People lacking transparency often have an unrealistic view of themselves.
• COMPARISON: When people continually compare themselves to others, they naturally tend to hide the places where they feel inadequate.