One of the back-page stories around San Jose lately has been about City Council member Pete Constant's decision to publicly publish his calendar for all of his constituents to see. Previously, some members of the Council were publishing quarterly PDF’s of their upcoming schedule, but Constant wanted to give his district the opportunity to view his actions in real-time. San Jose has had a couple of recent city government scandals, and his website offers a quote from James Madison that explains his motivation for promoting transparency: “A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” So, if you’d like to see what Pete is up to today, just click here. The calendar is far more rudimentary than sharing information via Outlook Exchange or even Google Calendar, but the concept is a step in the right direction.

In my spare time, I volunteer for a collegiate leadership organization. Every summer, we put together a leadership workshop for approximately 1,200 undergraduate and alumnus participants and we cover theoretical and practical practices in values-based leadership. One of the major points that I insert in my curriculum is the importance of transparency. If there is any data that could help or hurt your organization, it needs to be in the hands of the people who can utilize it. Everyone seems to be enamored with the concept of visionary, inspirational and dynamic leadership, and I don’t doubt that those things are extremely important. But, I believe that being a catalyst for an organization is only half the battle. The other half of the equation lies in one’s ability to create systems of accountability, transparency and execution.

So, does the fact that Pete Constant shares his calendar with his community make him a great leader? I don’t know…I’m registered to vote in a different county ; ) But, I certainly applaud his push for transparency…it’s something that can positively impact communities, businesses and families alike.