Secrets & Lies: The toxic culture of ‘Open Secrets’

Open Secrets’ cannot exist if shareholders and stakeholders want to ensure that their companies are ethically squeaky clean and virtuously untouchable, with the appropriate honesty, governance and transparency. Otherwise these companies will eventually sink in ignominy, under the weight of infractions.

A new age of public consciousness is rising, one where people are rightfully outraged by the sordid and unethical behavior of those that a majority of people have been fooled into looking up to and respecting. There is a new commitment to ethics beginning to grow, aimed at discovering and stamping out misbehavior.

Misbehavior does not thrive and persist without a host of people knowing. After every great scandal is revealed, it turns out that these violations were possible because “Everybody in the loop knew” and that the misbehavior was an “open secret,” yet none of these people did anything. It is not difficult to understand why the complicity is widespread. Faced with a hard choice, one that might cause friction in a career, a friendship, be branded a “snitch”, even the most vigilant of minds can be lulled into a convenient slumber at best, and at worst, look the other way realizing the cost to their careers had they taken any action. However there are seldom happy endings.

And going forward, rationalized secrecy and moral hypocrisy will be the road to catastrophe for perpetrators as well as accomplices, both guilty by either acts or omissions.

Future Weinstein’s, Spacey’s, Madoff’s, Enron, Tyco, Parmalat’s etc. will hopefully be prevented by people who heard the rumors or saw something they possibly should not have and decided they were not better off not knowing too much, but take a stand and challenge misbehavior that should be condemned; and to be ready to support those who take a brave stand against injustice. It is also imperative that open secrets do not become an excuse for closing our eyes.

Just a word to SUISHARE. Since the Weinstein scandal broke we have seen a dramatic upsurge in contacts over our whistleblowing site. People are definitely becoming aware of the immorality of silence and sensitized to the importance of speaking up. Our team in London is doing wonders with our AI system to corroborate information.

We also are fortunate to now be shadowed by a documentary film company who will be regularly checking in on our progress and record relevant film material for future release.