We asked top South African executives: How do you navigate radical transparency – without starting a panic, losing control, or becoming the office oversharer?
When the question hit my inbox from our Leadership Answered community, it felt like it came with flashing red lights: “How are leaders navigating radical transparency at work?”
Radical transparency? In the real world of budget shortfalls, surprise restructures, and people who forward their “out of office” replies to the whole company?
We’re not talking about the corporate flavour of transparency you get on laminated posters next to the coffee machine. No. We’re talking about the real, messy, deeply human version: the kind where leaders say hard things with soft edges and trust that truth doesn’t have to come with a panic button.
So, I reached out to some of South Africa’s most respected executives. And what I got back was wisdom forged in crisis, empathy under pressure, and some insights that made me want to stand up and clap.
Let’s dig in.
Here is what some of the execs who contributed to this piece had to share …
“Be honest, but be useful.”
“Radical transparency can be both a cultural accelerant and a leadership hazard – it depends on maturity, timing, and intent,” says Dennis. He explains that at NWK, openness deepened trust when it was paired with psychological safety and practical context.
“During a tough strategic realignment, we were radically transparent about structural changes and performance concerns – but we also framed those conversations with empathy, long-term vision, and support structures for affected employees,” he shared. “It didn’t make the message easier, but it made our integrity visible.”
Translation? Transparency isn’t about dumping everything on the table like a toddler unpacking a backpack. It’s about choosing what matters, and making sure your team isn’t left building the strategy from emotional LEGO blocks.
Dennis added, “One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is this: transparency isn’t a replacement for leadership. You still have to interpret, hold space, make the tough calls, and sometimes protect people from information they’re not ready to act on.”
“Transparency demands vulnerability and confidence.”
Pepe leads in a world where creativity is currency (and doubt comes free with every brainstorming session).
“To me, radical transparency is similar to being vulnerable,” he says. “Being willing to share insights that may even portray the leader perceptually as not being good enough.”
He’s not talking about “performing” vulnerability (you know, the kind that starts with “I’m going to be really real right now…” and ends with a press release).
He means the kind that signals psychological safety to your team – the creative permission slip no agency can run without.
“We deal with ideas, which is a super insecure place to be,” Pepe adds. And when performance boosts confidence, confidence boosts transparency. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Side note: not an excuse to overshare your weekend dilemmas in a Monday status meeting.
“You can’t shield your team and still expect solutions.”
No metaphors. No sugar-coating. Andiswa just says it: “Be direct and honest, especially if something has gone wrong. Own it and apologise immediately if needed.”
That sound you hear is a thousand HR professionals both nodding and nervously clutching their email drafts. Because while shielding your team may feel noble, it usually ends in confusion, grapevine-fuelled panic, and weird rumours.
Andiswa is clear: if your team doesn’t know what’s broken, how can they fix it? Radical transparency, she reminds us, is about inclusion. Not in the birthday cake sense. In the “we need your brain on this” sense.
“Value truth over control.”
Wendy brings elegance to her argument – and a subtle reminder that transparency doesn’t mean handing out raw data like it’s office stationery.
“Radical transparency is not about shining a light on every decision or data point, but rather about leading with the highest truth,” she says. And if you’ve ever read a 47-tab Excel workbook and still had no idea what was going on, you know exactly what she means.
Wendy’s mentor once told her, “It’s about valuing truth over control.” Wise words – and probably not written on enough coffee mugs.
Not total broadcast. Not strategic omission. Just the right dose of honesty, delivered with discernment. Think espresso shot, not bottomless filter coffee.
“Transparency works best with trust, culture, and clarity.”
Alexander saw what radical transparency can look like when a culture is ready for it – and what happens when it’s not. “Radical transparency can so easily be abused by a few bad actors… so the most important component is to create the type of culture where this information is used for the good of all.”
During COVID, Alexander says their leadership went all in. “We always shared the company’s financial standing and long-term plans, but COVID showed us that the data was real and that it was important.” Monthly updates followed. Cash flows. Project deferrals. Sales targets. It wasn’t PowerPoint transparency – it was purposeful, precise, people-first transparency.
“This meant that the teams could focus on their jobs, not worry about their future,” he says. It worked for them – but as he rightly cautions, not every organisation is built to handle that level of openness.
Think of it as transparency with a seatbelt.
“Choose your words wisely.”
Jenny gave us the kind of advice that makes you rethink your last ten email subject lines.
“I have always believed in transparency with my team as it builds commitment,” Jenny shares. And then she lands the masterclass in five words: “A lesson I have learnt is that words matter.”
If you’ve ever watched a well-meaning update spiral into full-blown existential confusion because someone used the word “pivot” – this is your section.
Jenny references Patrick Lencioni’s storytelling advice: when people understand your “why,” they’re not just aligned – they’re energised. Her method involves: be clear, be personal, and set boundaries around what can and can’t be shared.
Bonus wisdom: “Care enough to confront, and do it with empathy.”
Also, maybe rehearse before you say the word “restructure” in a crowded open-plan office.
“Seek dissent and explain the ‘why.’”
Brad brought it home: “Transparency is vital because misinformation is everywhere.”
And let’s be honest: if your team doesn’t hear the truth from you, they’ll hear it from WhatsApp – and it’ll involve aliens, magnets, and someone’s cousin in finance (classic broken telephone).
Brad is on a mission to make transparency practical, and brave. “I believe in open communication, where challenges are shared as openly as successes.”
He brings in Simon Sinek and The Geek Way like a power duo of leadership clarity: explain the ‘why,’ and actively farm for dissent. (Yes, farming. Not hunting. Not ignoring. Farming. You nurture it. You expect it. Because unspoken dissent doesn’t disappear – it mutates into sarcasm and passive-aggressive calendar invites.)Transparency, in his view, is less about broadcasting and more about engaging. Less megaphone, more megamind.
What Will You Do with Radical Transparency?
Here’s what these leaders didn’t say: “Just tell everyone everything and hope for the best.”
They talked about timing. About tone. About being brave and thoughtful. Transparency, they showed, is a discipline – not a free-for-all. It’s strategy in plain clothes. Empathy with a plan. And occasionally, the thing that saves your culture from becoming a spreadsheet-shaped iceberg.
Radical transparency isn’t a slogan. It’s a muscle. One that gets stronger every time you choose clarity over comfort, context over control, and truth over self-protection.
So, if you’re wondering whether to say the hard thing, share the messy truth, or invite a little more honesty into your leadership – consider this your cue.
It takes guts. It takes maturity. And it might just be your most underused superpower.Welcome to Leadership Answered. I’m glad you’re here.
Want to Receive our Weekly Piece from SA’s Top Execs?
Join 15,000+ South African leaders getting honest answers from SA’s top execs – weekly, practical, and free.
Ask your own questions, or just read the answers.
Click here to subscribe now, and join this fast-growing leadership community.
And if you enjoyed this article, please help it reach more people by sharing it on your favourite social media platform.
Here are the full replies we received from the execs who contributed to this piece
Dennis Coetzee (Group Executive Human Capital – NWK Limited)
Radical transparency can be both a cultural accelerant and a leadership hazard – it depends on maturity, timing, and intent.
At the company I work for we’ve learned that openness deepens trust when it’s paired with psychological safety and practical context. For example, during a tough strategic realignment, we were radically transparent about structural changes and performance concerns – but we also framed those conversations with empathy, long-term vision, and support structures for affected employees. It didn’t make the message easier, but it made our integrity visible. Trust grew because we didn’t sugarcoat or deflect – we stood in the discomfort with our teams.
But I’ve also seen the limits. I’ve withheld full transparency in moments when emotions were running high, or when sharing half-formed decisions would have created panic, gossip, or disengagement. Transparency isn’t dumping data – it’s responsible disclosure. One leader I coached said it well: “Be honest, but be useful.”
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is this: transparency isn’t a replacement for leadership. You still have to interpret, hold space, make the tough calls, and sometimes protect people from information they’re not ready to act on. But when you create a rhythm of transparency – updates, open Q&As, accessible leaders – you build a workplace where people don’t fear the truth. They start asking for it.
So no, radical transparency doesn’t backfire when it’s anchored in values, delivered with care, and followed by action. That’s when it becomes culture.
Visit Dennis’s LinkedIn
Dr. Pepe Marais (Co-Founder & Group Chief Creative Officer – Joe Public)
To me, radical transparency is similar to being vulnerable. Being willing to share insights that may even portray the leader perceptually as not being good enough. I find this level of transparency super impowering, as it gives people permission to be vulnerable too. It creates trust. And trust is the fertile soil within which creativity flourish.
We deal with ideas, which is a super insecure place to be. People are judged daily on their thinking. I believe that it is our creative product that has driven the level of vulnerability within our business. So, I would have to say it plays out daily. But again, even in our environment, it is not all sunshine and roses. I find that high performers deal easier with being transparent and vulnerable. That may sound like quite a judgement, but in my experience, the more confident a person, the more they are willing to be transparent and vulnerable. And that level of confidence is more often than not created through performance.
Yes, in terms of the financials. We would communicate that the economy is tight, and people get a sense that things are tight, because it comes at the cost of certain aspects of freedom within the business. Although we communicate topline on the issue around financials, I don’t believe that there’s any purpose to let everyone panic before there is a real need for panic. I suppose at this level, there are levels that you do communicate with. For example, we would keep it very open at a board and management level.
That transparency is the same as vulnerability, and that it needs self-confidence and a lower sense of ego to really play out. Hence it takes a lot of inner work to be able to become truly transparent.
Visit Pepe’s LinkedIn
Andiswa Bata (CEO – FNB Business)
For me, it’s about being as direct and honest at all times; especially if it’s about something that’s gone wrong. Own it and apologise immediately if needed. If you’re trying to shield your team from bad news, then you’ve disarmed them from co-owning issues and being able to suggest the right answers, knowing fully what’s at stake.
Visit Andiswa’s LinkedIn
Wendy Alexander (Head of Marketing – Old Mutual Investment Group)
Radical transparency is not about shining a light on every decision or data point, but rather about leading with the highest truth. It is about building environments in which individuals feel comfortable sharing their opinions, challenging and contributing meaningfully to the company’s future success. Radical transparency and authentic leadership need leaders to stand firm on their beliefs, be open to feedback, and respond with discernment and maturity. As one of my mentors puts it, ‘it’s about valuing truth over control. I believe that the most effective leaders strike a balance between openness and sensitivity, so that they do not generate anxiety but instead give the truth frankly.
Visit Wendy’s LinkedIn
Alexander Whaley (Director: Seperation Science Sales – LECO Africa)
Radical Transparency: This has been another innovation that was implemented by our last managing director, and can easily backfire, depending on company culture. With the right caring environment, it can work, especially for the companies that we totally transparent during the COVID years.
Radical transparency can so easily be abused by a few bad actors in a company who just want to get ahead, so the most important component is to create the type of culture where this information is used for the good of all and is used judiciously in order to create an environment where all team players support each other. With this culture, an Ubuntu-like culture, radical transparency is a magic weapon.
During the COVID period, our management was even more open than usual with us. Before that, we always shared the company’s financial standing and long term plans, but COVID showed us that the data was real and that it was important. The vision of how we would work through the crisis, how management would manage the finances, where the break-even points were for the business, how many sales were needed to reach the minimum requirements, which projects would have to be deferred and how our cash reserves would be used before anyone got retrenched. Then, on a monthly basis, we got updates of how each division was doing and the company as a whole. This meant that the teams could focus on their jobs, not worry about their future and we got through with the same teams as we started.
We all understand that there may always be a few sensitive issues that cannot be shared by all and sundry, but when the company feels that they are consulted with and informed of the company’s status and they feel that they are fully part of the team, then radical transparency can work.
However, this may not work quite as well in a massive, global company with thousands of employees world-wide. The team members must feel that they have agency within the company.
Visit Alexander’s LinkedIn
Jenny Gonsalves (Chief People Officer – BDO)
I have always believed in transparency with my team as it builds commitment. Team members appreciate when you take them in your confidence as it makes them feel part of the business. It gives them a deeper understanding of challenges we face both at an organisation level and at a functional level. As a leader I obviously need the political savviness to know what is appropriate to share and what remains confidential at a leadership level.
Patrick Lencioni, in one his videos on ‘The Truth About Employee Engagement’ shares the importance of storytelling and more specifically a leader’s story around why they do what they do. When your team understand this, they can rally behind your passion to make you successful, which motivates them as they now understand the WHY.
Personally, I take my leadership team in confidence, I clarify what cannot be shared and believe this contributes to their commitment and better working together as one team. I have also developed the sensitivity to know how certain feedback can impact the morale of a team but share how we can re-frame any challenges or changes which take place. From a performance perspective, one needs to ‘care enough to confront’ difficult issues but also have the people leaderships skills to know the right time to deliver the message and with empathy.
A lesson I have learnt is that words matter, and anything you say can be taken out of context or taken as the complete truth. So, I think carefully when I am transparent as to what and how the information is shared.
Visit Jenny’s LinkedIn
Brad Roper (Chief Payments & Partnerships – JUMO)
In today’s information-rich and misinformation-prone world, transparency is paramount. I believe in open communication, where challenges are shared as openly as successes. This honesty builds trust and empowers teams to engage proactively.
Simon Sinek’s concept of “Start with Why” underscores the importance of clarity in purpose. By articulating the ‘why’ behind decisions, I aim to align and inspire my team towards common goals.
Moreover, I embrace the principle of “farming for dissent,” as highlighted in The Geek Way. This book is a must for any leader in technology. Actively seeking diverse perspectives and encouraging constructive feedback ensures that decisions are well-rounded and inclusive. It’s not about avoiding conflict but about harnessing it to drive innovation and growth. As examples, in Nokia, Kodak and blockbuster, there were very loud dissenting voices inside the organisations, but the leaders opted for a softer group think mindset and those results speak for themselves.
Visit Brad’s LinkedIn
Want to Receive our Weekly Piece from SA’s Top Execs?
Join 15,000+ South African leaders getting honest answers from SA’s top execs – weekly, practical, and free.
Ask your own questions, or just read the answers.
Click here to subscribe now, and join this fast-growing leadership community.
And if you enjoyed this article, please help it reach more people by sharing it on your favourite social media platform.
