We were blessed (cursed?) with the mother of all startup drama this week when Sam Altman was booted from the summit of multi-billion-dollar startup OpenAI. How do we know it was there? Drama? until Vanity Fair piled up.
Look, I didn’t attend any of the OpenAI board meetings, so God knows what happened there. However, one detail that kept scratching my brain was the quote that Altman “was not always forthright in his communications with the board.” This caught my attention, because if there’s anything I’ve learned from building companies, it’s that you have to be straight and honest with the board.
Bad News, in particular, needs to move quickly to the plate for a whole host of reasons. Some of them seem downright boring (fiduciary duties, anyone?), but they’re downright serious. I have no inside knowledge of OpenAI or Sam Altman and I’m not accusing anyone of lying, but there’s a good lesson founders can learn from this whole conversation.
Startups have a reputation for moving fast and breaking things, but that reputation doesn’t usually extend to the boardroom. The relationship between leaders and its board of directors is a critical element in a company’s success story. The golden rule of this relationship? honesty.
No, you can’t lie on your board. Not only is it unethical, it also has far-reaching implications for your business, your team, and ultimately, your credibility.