The Transparency Trap: How Manipulative Leaders Weaponize Openness

Mainline Executive Coaching ACT

Mainline Executive Coaching ACT
The Transparency Trap: How Manipulative Leaders Weaponize Openness
Jul 21, 2025 Episode 346
Rich Baron and Maikel Bailey

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What can be one of the most insidious threats to organizational trust: the Transparency Thief. These are leaders who disguise manipulation as openness—soliciting vulnerability not to build connection, but to gain control.

Drawing from psychology, leadership studies, the fall of global organizations, and even Shakespeare’s Iago, we’ll explore how deceptive transparency undermines team cohesion, erodes trust, and damages culture. More importantly, we’ll share practical ways to spot these behaviors, rebuild integrity, and lead with true character. If you’ve ever felt burned by someone who claimed to “just want open feedback”—only to use it as ammunition, this episode is a must listen.

Join Rich and Maikel as they pull back the cover on the Transparency Thieves in this episode of Mainline Executive Coaching ACT. 


Leaders, Lead Well!

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Rich Baron:
rbaron@richbaronexecutivecoaching.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rich-baron/
https://www.richbaronexecutivecoaching.com/

Maikel Bailey:
mbailey@intelligentleadershipec.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maikelbailey/
https://maikelbailey.com/