At some point, every owner has to make a call here.
It’s an operating decision. And just like every other operating decision, it comes with trade-offs.
There’s only one real mistake: not making a deliberate choice.
The Two Extremes (and Everything in Between)
On one end of the spectrum, there is the open book policy: everyone in the company can see everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything (including salaries and dividends).
On the other end, there’s absolute privacy: nobody sees anything, even when a bit of visibility would help them do their job better.
Everything in between is design.
Why I’m Talking About This Now
This came up with a few new and long-term clients in the past weeks. In different ways, but always the same underlying question.
And in every case, we ended up adjusting the policy.
There isn’t one perfect model. But drifting into a setup by default rarely works, and a deliberate decision from you is needed.
What Happens When You Share the Wrong Things
Here’s one we’ve seen more than once.
The owner shared revenue numbers with the team, but kept costs and margins private.
The result was predictable: the team pushed hard for more sales. More deals. More growth.
But hardly anyone talked about costs. Needless to say, margins were under pressure.
Later, the owner shared gross margin with the management team, and the conversation changed. Suddenly, people started asking different questions. Not just “How do we grow?” but “Is this actually profitable?”
Same company. Different information. Different behavior.
Start With Behavior, Not Numbers
Before you decide what to share, start here:
What do you want your team to do more/less of?
If you want people to think like owners (to care about margins, understand trade-offs, and make commercially smart decisions), they need context. You need to give them enough information to allow them to make that shift.
If you mainly want execution within defined roles, limited visibility may be enough.
Again, there is no wrong or right. Just be honest about the trade-off. More transparency usually helps people understand the bigger picture. It also invites more questions. Less transparency gives you more control. But it can reduce ownership.
When Operations Is Asked to “Own the Outcome”
This comes up a lot with Ops teams.
They’re responsible for delivery. Efficiency. Sometimes even for a margin.
But if they don’t see the numbers behind those goals, they can only improve what’s directly in front of them. They can run a tighter process without knowing whether it’s moving the needle financially.
But it is hard, if not impossible, to ask someone to improve profitability if they can’t see what’s helping or hurting it.
If you want real ownership, you have to share enough information for people to act on.
The “Revenue Only” Trap
One pattern I strongly recommend avoiding:
Sharing revenue only.
We’ve seen it more than once. The team sees top-line growth and assumes the business is printing money.
They don’t see the cost of sales. Marketing spend. Overhead. Reinvestment. Cash pressure.
What do you get? “Look how much I’m generating. I want a significant raise.”
Meanwhile, margins are thin, and cash is tight. Revenue without context is misleading. Your team will not grasp the costs of running a business.
The Salary Question
Salaries are the other sensitive area.
There are strong arguments for sharing overall profitability.
There are far fewer good arguments for exposing individual compensation.
Once salaries become visible (or easily deductible), comparison starts. Ego enters the room, and politics follows. And genie is impossible to get back in the bottle.
Why Many Owners Undershare
Many owners default to caution: “Nobody needs to know this. This is only for me.”
We used to think that too.
But complete privacy limits growth. It prevents commercial thinking. It creates wrong assumptions about how well the company is doing. And it limits ownership, especially in the management team.
Don’t share numbers just to say you’re transparent. Share them because they change how people think and act.
Before You Change Anything
Before you share more (or less), decide:
What behavior am I trying to encourage? Does my team have the maturity to interpret these numbers (with context)? Where would more visibility improve decisions? Where would it mostly create noise?
You don’t need maximum transparency. But you do need a deliberate choice.
Are you comfortable sharing the good months? Are you comfortable sharing the bad months?
If your team truly understood how the business makes money, would they operate differently?
Start Small
One practical rule: It’s easier to increase transparency than to reverse it. You can’t “unshare” numbers. If in doubt, move in steps. Start with the management team. Share the minimum needed. Educate first. Then expand gradually.
So, What Are You Choosing?
There’s no universal right or wrong here. But there should be intention.
How much are you sharing, and why? Did it ever come back to bite you?
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