262 | More Than Compliance - How Confidentiality Serves Us

The Art of Consulting Podcast – Episode Transcript

Hosts: Andy Fry & Cat Lam Episode Topic: Non-Disclosure Agreements and the Power of Keeping Information Confidential

[00:00 – Intro Music]

Andy Fry & Cat Lam (together): Welcome to the Art of Consulting Podcast with Andy Fry and Cat Lam. We are seasoned IT consultants, CPAs, and professional-development connoisseurs. Each episode we bring you an inspiring message to help you discover that X-factor as a professional in your field so you can gain the success you know you deserve in your career and in your life.

[00:15]

Andy Fry: Hey everybody, today I want to talk about non-disclosure agreements and keeping information close to our chest.

One of the things that, as a consultant, you've either already signed or you will sign—especially if you're new to consulting—is a non-disclosure agreement, or what's commonly called an NDA.

It really is a confidentiality agreement that says you're not going to share information that is not already public with people who shouldn't have it. Publicly traded companies require this because if you have access to their financials, or you're in meetings where they're about to disclose material non-public information, you possess something valuable.

If you start talking to other people, sharing that privately, or—worse—publicly, you can be sued, fired, or face a whole range of consequences depending on the severity.

Most NDAs are signed purely for protection; you sign it, you agree not to share, and most of us never have to worry about it day-to-day. But the broader concept of confidentiality is absolutely critical in consulting—and, honestly, in our personal lives too.

[01:10] The number-one reason it matters? We're trying to prove we're trustworthy.

Trust is a huge thing for me. I even wrote a book called The Trust Paradigm (there are actually three books with that title, but mine's the one with Andy Fry on the cover). I wrote it because I wanted to figure out: What is trust? How do you build it? How do you measure it?