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Zip It!
A Culture of Confidentiality Is Your Goal!
My only … recommendation was to tell her that she need never feel any of her affairs would be repeated, or discussed by me with anyone. And, her reply, with that lovely smile of hers, was, ‘If I did not already know that, I would never have asked you to come.’
—Isabella Hagner, first U.S. White House social secretary (1901–1905) on her conversation with First Lady Edith Carow Roosevelt on the first day of her job
Dear Nan:
I almost lost my job today. I let some information slip in a casual conversation, and my boss overheard it. He was furious. He said I should know better and that the rules of confidentiality were “understood” in professional offices. Nan, this is my first job out of college and I’m a basket case. If I make another mistake like this one, my career will be aborted before it even begins. So, what are the so-called “rules”?
—Nancy in Littleton, CO
Memo to Nancy’s boss: Don’t assume that Nancy—or any of your other employees, for that matter—understands the nature of confidentiality to the same degree that you do. They need and deserve to have a detailed discussion with you about your expectations. Without your guidance, they will only discover the boundaries of confidentiality by tripping over them and causing problems for you in the process.
Memo to Nancy: I believe confidentiality is on the short list of professional job skills that everyone is presumed to simply “understand.” But the devil is in the details. ...
