It occurred to me that one of my favorite companies (Apple) badly violates one of my favorite business practices (being transparent).

Steve Jobs is the face of Apple, but the rest of the company is behind the iron curtain. Jobs even plants false information to ferret out leaks.

How does such a closed company enjoy so much love from fans?

David suggested it’s because they sell crack.* I actually buy that; Apple’s products make their customers feel so good, it doesn’t matter that Apple isn’t transparent. Steve Jobs had to change the world before people felt this way about Apple. And he did it 3 times.

So if your crack is good enough (you’ve got a brand as powerful as Apple) don’t worry about the minor details of humanizing your company.

But if you’ve only got the weak stuff, concentrate on having more personal relationships with your customers.

* Sorry I can’t link to David’s comment, at least not until we figure out how to tag offline conversations.

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