Listen...

...do you want to know a secret?

The art of the secret is coming back. Machiavelli, the archetypal conspiracist, said, “to have an advantage one must temporarily set aside the natural impulse to be kind, forgiving and empathetic”.

In the current world (and especially so in the startups world) the overwhelming urge is to be transparent, to share, to open up. For the most part this is a good thing - I’ll continue to be open and I’d encourage you to do so too (good execution beats secrecy most of the time anyway). Maybe it’s an 80/20 thing.

For one or two things though I think there’s an enormous advantage to do as Machiavelli suggests and temporarily set aside the urge we all have to tell others our secret. The secret I’m talking about here is the thing that gives you and your company the edge.

An unfair competitive advantage is just that - unfair.

[Originally shared with my portfolio, 21st June 2018]