Let me share some lessons about confidentiality and discretion:
- Share your secrets with your friends and spouse but DO NOT share other people’s secrets with them.
- When rich and powerful people introduce you to a circle of trust, they typically set a test. They will share something. If they hear it outside, they will know you are the only one who could have told people.
- Use a password for your phone and safeguard your documents. Remember you hold other people’s confidential information in them.
- Banish the spirit of gbegborun and ojukokoro from your heart. When people trust you with privileged information, never use it for personal benefit. Never treat them differently because you know. This is especially true for Lawyers, Accountants, Therapists and Doctors.
- Never name drop. It’s in bad taste.
- When someone sits across the table from you, ignore the papers in front of them. Never try to read what’s there.
- Never look through another person’s phone, laptop, papers or bag.
- Don’t denigrate your colleagues or friends in the hearing of others. Don’t run your mouth because you’re trying to catch fun.
- It is not everything that happens in the office that you should discuss at home. Learn to share general information without breaking confidentiality.
- If you’re a custodian of official secrets, have an approved process in place for institutional memory. Back up the information constantly. If you’re a custodian of secrets or wealth that need to be passed on, you should have a legal will.
- When people trust you, you will become a confidante of repute. You will gain access beyond your wildest dreams. Networks will open up to you. People will entrust you with their lives.
PS: To read more of my random thoughts, you should get my book, Unscripted.
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