It's certainly a violation of the social contract. People expect cashflow information to be kept private, especially regarding when and how bills are paid.

However, you could establish up front with a client that you will publish all their accounts payable data, good and bad. This is akin to the secret salaries debate---anyone can follow the argument, but making the switch is too huge for most people to seriously consider.

Congrats on hitting 2,000!

An interesting exercise would be to look over your past 2,000 blogs and find the entries which you treasure the most. Not that 2,000 is too many, but that some have been more popular and more meaningful than others.

As a regular reader, for example, I know that I routinely skip your "Links for This Date" entries but always enjoy your "rants." Perhaps this self-analysis can help you continue to improve your blogging for all your readers.

Again, congrats!

Let's rephrase Libert's comment using the same, off-the-cuff logic:

"Mzinga never thought of themselves as a company that values its employees, which is why they cut 6% of their workforce in January."

(That's a fact: http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/01/05/da...

Of course, I don't really think Mzinga does not care about their workers. I'm just demonstrating that Libert's remark is disingenious and unfounded. This is pure pundrity: leveraging someone else's failure as an excuse to push your own agenda.

The factors involved in the crisis at General Motors are complex. It is hogwash to blame their failure on their choice of mission statement. Business is about connecting, but it's also about innovation and respect. Let's focus on what we can create and measure, not where we can invent blame to make ourselves look good.

@robbyslaughter