A Culture of Candor

Sixteen years ago, engineers identified a problem with the O-rings on the booster rockets of the space shuttle. However, because of a NASA culture that pushed flight schedules over risk, their warnings went unheeded. Then in 2003, virtually the same thing happened when whistle blowers warned of the danger of falling insulation damaging the heat shield tiles...and seven more astronauts died in Columbia. Why is it so hard to maintain a culture of candor, where frank speech is encouraged and listened to? In their book "Transparency, How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor" (Jossey-Bass from A Wiley Imprint, San Francisco, 2008), writers Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman and James O'Toole look at the sometimes life-and-death leadership challenges of maintaining transparency in a bureaucracy. Larry talks to one of the writers, Warren Bennis.