# The psychology of workplace secrets - **Episode:** [152](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/152.md) (2024-12-10) - **Type:** news-roundup - **Tags:** secrets, psychology, workplace - **Time:** 7:25–12:27 (start 445s) - **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/152?t=445](https://truthliesandwork.com/152?t=445) --- [7:25] Al Elliott: Shh, got a secret [7:26] Leanne Elliott: Tell me [7:27] Al Elliott: Well, actually, I haven't got a secret, but this article I saw was all about work. Well, we have got a secret, but that about that thing, but we don't tell anyone about that, do we? So just keep that quiet. So I saw an article about work secrets today, and not just kind of like the spy James Bond stuff. Um, new James Bond. That's, that's that smart price, uh, James Bond. James Bond. New research reported in the HBR, that's the Harvard Business Review, um, it shows that keeping work secrets can stress out employees and make them feel isolated. Makes sense. But also it can make them feel special and give their work a little bit more meaning. Professor Michael Slepian, and he has, uh, 2 other co-researchers which I didn't write down their names, sorry guys, uh, but he said organizational secrets is a double-edged sword. While it can lead to socialization and stress, it can also enhance feelings of status and meaning. This interested me, this whole idea of status and meaning. Um, the, the survey goes on to say that essentially what we're talking about is that employees who feel most proud of knowing company secrets are actually the ones who are most stressed out in their personal lives. They really struggle to talk about the work with family and friends, which can often Cause tension at home. Now, there is one side of that. I mean, I get it, signing trade secrets documents is kind of exciting. But this study, which involved 12,000 workers— more than your study, Leanne, so I win— and it found that keeping work secrets makes people feel cut off from others and a little bit more stressed day to day. Of course, there is the idea of being trusted with company secrets makes employees feel very valued and important, and it can give their work a little bit more meaning. But it does seem that having supportive coworkers who also know the secrets makes a massive difference to stress levels. Now, what I'm interested about this— do you think, Leanne, that if I know— if I'm— I know a secret about work and then my colleague knows a secret but a different secret, do you think that would be the same? Do you think we'd still feel like we're sort of bonding, or do you have to know the same secret? [9:18] Leanne Elliott: I think you need to know the same secret [9:19] Al Elliott: Oh, that's a bit disappointing [9:21] Leanne Elliott: I don't— I don't know. I've not— I've not read the research on it, but I'd imagine that That it's that what's gonna ease the, the guilt and weight of that secret is gonna be having somebody that you can speak to openly about it. So if it's not the same secret, you can't do that. So it's still a secret [9:35] Al Elliott: That makes sense. Actually, that makes a lot of sense. Now, this article goes on to say that the key here to getting this right is when managers explain why secrecy is needed, employees feel much better about keeping secrets. That sounds a little bit like it could be encompassed by the word reason, which is one of the RX7s. We've talked about this before. RX7, 7 things, foundations of a great workplace culture all begin with R. One of the most important things in there is reason. Anyway, employees who took pride in the secret work do feel higher status at work, but is this necessarily a good thing? Could this lead to kind of an us and them situation? They're sort of like, I'm sorry, Terry, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you sort of thing. And we also all know those managers already think they're super important. And this may well push them over the edge and make them unbearable to work with. Apparently, the most frustrating thing for employees who keep secrets is not being able to talk about their work achievements with others, which does make sense. I also wonder very much, like the whole spy thing we had, um, we had the neuroscientist Hillary Scarlett, I want to say, uh, she worked with the basically Secret Service, the spy headquarters in the UK. I'd be interested to hear whether she thought, uh, what she thought about this study. Um, as an aside, there is a great story about an ex-Coca-Cola Coca-Cola employee who approached Pepsi back in the '80s or '90s, I think, with the secret recipe for Coke. And then Pepsi immediately contacted Coca-Cola, told them about this person. This person was arrested. I'm guessing they had them killed or drowned in a vat of Coca-Cola. I've seen what it does to teeth and coins overnight, so it's not really good to be— a good way to die. And didn't take those secrets. So maybe it's kind of like this unwritten code. When you have your own secrets, more— you're more likely to act with integrity if someone tries to disclose someone else's secret to you. The sad news, unfortunately, for one of the biggest secrets in the world, which is Colonel Sanders' secret, which is the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices in the KFC coating, is widely available on the internet. So that's no longer a secret [11:24] Leanne Elliott: I think there was one Chick-fil-A sauce as well, was a recent one that was leaked [11:28] Al Elliott: And then McDonald's, um, Big Mac sauce. Leanne has reverse engineered that. How'd you make that, Leanne? [11:33] Leanne Elliott: Uh, mayonnaise, Yeah, and ketchup and Dijon mustard [11:38] Al Elliott: So there you go, Leanne. What do you think of that? [11:41] Leanne Elliott: Psychology of Secrets is really interesting. There's actually a book that's just behind you, The Psychology of Secrets by Andrew Gold, who I really want to get on the show. Andrew, if you're listening, come on, we'll chat. It'll be great. Really interesting research that, yeah, that isn't overall negative. Having secrets isn't really good for us. It's not good for mental health. It's not good for our place in the community. It's not good for our work. And there's lots of reasons where secrets aren't a great thing to have. Equally, I think when you share a secret with somebody, it can, you know, create that camaraderie. But I would argue, if somebody else knows about the secret, is it really a secret? [12:11] Al Elliott: That's a good point. When does a secret become— what would be the next step down from secret? [12:15] Leanne Elliott: Secret-ish [12:15] Al Elliott: Secret-ish. Yes, exactly. I'll tell you what's not a secret. Thanks to you lovely listeners, we are number 2 in the Spotify business charts [12:22] Leanne Elliott: Oh yeah, thank you for that [12:23] Al Elliott: Yeah, well done. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Okay, Leah. What else have you seen this week?