Airing Your Pajamas in Public
No sooner I started reading the Pajamas Media Blogjam, "What should Pajamas Media be?", than did come to mind the old adage about not airing one's laundry in public. But like so many of my first impressions, this one proved partial. As I read more closely I realized that I was witnessing something rather rare and remarkable- a discussion, both open and in the open, about the core strategy and mission of a new, high-tech enterprise. I concluded that, yes, Pajamas Media was airing its strategic laundry in public but, also concluded that, no, this was not a bad thing. Here's why.
There is little debate among organization theorists that open and transparent communication represents a desirable state of affairs. And while not a guarantor of a firm's success, open communication is widely viewed as necessary to it. As a rule, aside from the founders, financial backers, and the occasional management researcher, few people ever witness, participate in, or are otherwise privy to the actual process by which a start-up's strategy and mission are set. Matters of this importance are discussed in private; the outcomes of those deliberations are treated as confidential and, thus, not disseminated outside of a rather small circle.
In making their deliberations public, warts and all, on-line and in real-time, the Pajamas editorial board has carved out a notable exception to the aforementioned rule. In doing so they are taking an enormous risk: few firms could withstand the barrage of criticism and the loss of confidence that such honest and forthright admissions can eventuate. However, if viewed as a measure of adaptiveness and corporate self-confidence, such transparency actually speaks quite well of Pajamas' prospects.
In the final analysis, we should not lose sight of the fact that Pajamas Media is doing something new and exciting. Criticism, both constructive and not, from both inside and out, goes with the territory. It is not necessarily to their detriment, however. The first 12-18 months of a start-up frequently sees regular reassessments of the effectiveness of the original business concept and the appropriateness of the firm's mission. If Pajamas can learn from and adapt to the feedback it gets from these internal audits and external critics, then there's no reason why it shouldn't survive its slightly shaky start. And while it is too soon to say if they will ultimately succeed, I, for one, hope that Pajamas will continue to air theirs in public. It's not the kind of thing you get to see everyday and, as a result, it is something from which much can be learned.
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