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Why a small slice of benchmark participants request anonymity

In the first group of 445 participants in the General Counsel Metrics, LLC global benchmark report, 43 of them asked to remain anonymous (less than 10%). They did not want the first release of the report to list them as a respondent. For several reasons, I surmise, they requested anonymity.

Some were not the general counsel, and they might have been concerned about their right to disclose proprietary information. One or two were in the finance function who might not want their brethren in legal to know they were checking on its performance. Some were general counsel who might be unsure whether their metrics will put them in a good light. If your company remains unnamed, no CFO or CEO can get wind of it and put you on the spot for how your spending compares to the spending of other companies in the industry. Some also may have been unsure about the bona fides of an innovative benchmarking initiative and therefore cloaked themselves in secrecy.

Still curious, I dug into the nameless participants a bit more. Eighteen of the 43, at least, are non-US companies. So, aside from levels of authority, considerations about proprietary leaks, and internal politics, levels of cultural comfort caused some of the participants to want to fly under the radar.

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Published on:

Why a small slice of benchmark participants request anonymity

In the first group of 445 participants in the General Counsel Metrics, LLC global benchmark report, 43 of them asked to remain anonymous (less than 10%). They did not want the first release of the report to list them as a respondent. For several reasons, I surmise, they requested anonymity.

Some were not the general counsel, and they might have been concerned about their right to disclose proprietary information. One or two were in the finance function who might not want their brethren in legal to know they were checking on its performance. Some were general counsel who might be unsure whether their metrics will put them in a good light. If your company remains unnamed, no CFO or CEO can get wind of it and put you on the spot for how your spending compares to the spending of other companies in the industry. Some also may have been unsure about the bona fides of an innovative benchmarking initiative and therefore cloaked themselves in secrecy.

Still curious, I dug into the nameless participants a bit more. Eighteen of the 43, at least, are non-US companies. So, aside from levels of authority, considerations about proprietary leaks, and internal politics, levels of cultural comfort caused some of the participants to want to fly under the radar.

Posted in:
Published on:
Updated:

Comments are closed.