Principle VII: Authenticity and charisma in content require self-revelation in this confessional age.

Being willing to confess something, even if it’s small, is table stakes in this age, surrounded as we are by the no-holds-barred, tell-all, celebrity-infatuated media, which constantly dish up the most intimate details of the lives, real or imagined, of these people and organizations. Our culture is obsessed with being in the know, whether it’s the inner workings of the West Wing, or the movie sound stage, or backstage with the stars.

Secrets have shorter and shorter half-lives and higher and higher value until the moment they’re revealed. The safest leaders are the fully transparent ones, but of course leadership requires difficult choices in gray areas of the law, policy, and ethics, so the need for secrets has not gone away. They’re just much harder to keep than they were even a decade ago.

One lesson that has been impossible for organizations to learn in spite of overwhelming evidence is that when a secret is discovered, the only possible response for a public entity is full disclosure. We have seen over and over again the perils of not coming clean. The cover-up inevitably leads to far worse damage than the initial revelation. And yet every organization caught in the media headlights seems determined to learn the lesson once again the hard way. Take the sad example of Toyota, whose hard-earned reputation for quality was unmatched in the automotive world – and developed over many years. That reputation was lost – or at least sorely damaged – in a few weeks as the company dragged its feet over the recent recalls and appeared to care more about itself than its customers. It will be years winning it back.

If you’re caught, confess. As painful as that is, it’s much easier in the long run than the alternative.

What does this mean for public speakers? Two things. First of all, come armed with confessions. It’s expected, and you don’t want to disappoint your audience. Second, don’t stop there. Tell us what you’re going to do about it. We expect confession, but we respect action. The rehabilitation story has a certain, well-defined plot, and it leads to a new life.