At the Society of Corporate Governance Conference last week, I was excited to see my Labrador colleagues: Deb Koenen, Pierre Saddi, Leslie Bellamy, Diana Frank (not pictured) and Jenn Cooney.
To be clear, I am an independent contractor – not an employee – of Labrador. But I do receive payment from them in my role as a “Transparency Champion.” As someone who is independent, I have free rein to serve in that role as I see fit because they view “transparency” as their mission – as I do too – and it colors everything that they do.
That’s what Labrador has been doing in Europe for over a decade, and that’s how they operate now in the US. Labrador has made painstaking efforts to engrain “transparency” into the corporate culture, and I have witnessed that first-hand. It’s something to behold because even though some of my previous employers had a “mission” – like when I worked at the SEC, whose primary mission, ostensibly, is “investor protection” – it wasn’t talked about much when I worked there, not at the senior management level nor among the employees doing the grunt work.
Labrador’s strategy is to do great work for its corporate clients while still serving the readers of the disclosures. Serving readers benefits corporate clients too. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ve learned about the science that shows that trust is good for business.
It’s refreshing to all be working toward a common goal – one that doesn’t involve “profit.” It makes it easier to make decisions. It makes it easier to communicate with one other. And it feels like we all have a purpose. It’s a joy to come to work. Not many people can say that.
I’m hoping you can get on board with transparency and that you find that it can bring more meaning to what you do. I’ve been involved with corporate disclosure for over three decades and it really makes a difference thinking about it through the lens of “trying to do the right thing.”
