I've never made a secret of my love for the so-called "bitch-meme."  To me they are discussions about the philosophical side of tech-life and that's something I'm not ashamed to admit interest in.  Today's revolves around Conflicts of Interest and has led Michael Arrington of TechCrunch to do this...

one change I’m going to make at TechCrunch is to get rid of all of our investment conflicts. I’ve long been an angel investor and have continued to make a very few investments even after starting TechCrunch. These investments are always disclosed and in my opinion we do more than enough to maintain transparency there. But it’s also a weak point that competitors and disgruntled entrepreneurs use to attack our credibility. So over the next few months I’m going to divest myself of all of those investments in an orderly fashion, and I’ll update readers on the progress. I’ll also discontinue making any further investments.

Now, we all hear the term "Conflict of Interest" and have a basic understanding of what it means.  But I think it will help to have an actual definition.

A Conflict Of Interest is when your own interests interfere with the interests of whomever you are providing a service to.

In this case Michael Arrington is trying to avoid making Investments because it would interfere with the news he provides to his readers.

But the problem with that solution is it doesn't work.  He still has conflicts of interest.  He still uses software right?  That's a far bigger conflict of interest than who he invests in.  What software he personally uses colors his views on a daily basis.  How can he objectively review other software having spent years getting used to the software he chooses to use?

Clearly the solution is for him to give up using a computer all together.  It's the only way. 

But now let's talk about this typewriter (which is what he's using to write his articles on now that he's stopped using the computer).  What color is it?  If it's gray than clearly he can't review any software with color in its interface because it would undoubtedly look more attractive in comparison to a gray typewriter.

So really he'll just have to live his un-TechCrunch-related life blind folded.  It's the only way. 

I trust you've all gotten my point (probably a couple paragraphs ago).  We all have conflicts and any conflict is going to color our judgment.  That in turn (going back to our definition above) means we all have built in conflicts of interest because we use our judgment in everything we do and that includes things we do for other people. 

So a person shouldn't identify conflicts of interest with the goal of eliminating them. 

Instead people should focus on knowing what they are.  Because when we're made aware of them we can (a) advise others who might be influenced by us and (b) try our hardest to fight against them.

THAT'S the real point here. 

It isn't about not having conflicts of interest it's about fighting against them.  Michael Arrington can stop investing in companies if he wishes but he can't stop himself from wanting to invest in them and that's the same conflict. 

Actually, and I didn't realize this when I started the post, it's really made his audience worse off.  Because before he'd always disclosed the companies he invested in but no one discloses which companies they wish they could invest in.

Which just reinforces my point that it's better to know your conflicts and actively fight against them than it is to try to avoid conflicts altogether (which is impossible).

Addendum: One point I forgot to make: Some will cite “the appearance of a conflict” which is what the TechCrunch article really focuses on. To that I’d say this:

Anyone who is accusing you of a conflict of interest after you’ve made full disclosures is just trying to attack you. Accordingly they’ll undoubtedly make the accusation whether you try to eliminate your conflicts or not. So it’s pointless.

But I’m willing to put my judgment to the test. I’ve put a reminder in my Outlook calendar and if no one in the next 6 months accuses Michael Arrington of having conflicts of interest I will print out a copy of this blog entry and eat it. That’s my vow to you.