Full Mask

Overview

Full Mask refers to a work style where one's real name, appearance, and gender are not disclosed. Let's define one's real name, appearance, and gender as their Plain Identity. Thus, Full Mask can be described as a work style where Plain Identity is not disclosed.

Disclosure of Plain Identity is not expected, nor should it be enforced; doing so is considered harassment. Instead, a dummy identity is used in everyday situations. In other words, think of Plain Identity as sensitive information, akin to health status, address, or even nationality and political beliefs in some countries.

You can create multiple dummy identities and use them interchangeably. For example, the identity A might be worn by 🐶 at one time and by 🐱 at another. In this sense, identity acts as a Mask—a facade that can be created and worn freely.

Benefits

The benefits of Full Mask include the following:

• By not disclosing Plain Identity, minorities are less likely to feel marginalized, increasing organizational diversity, which allows for a true balance between work quality and productivity.
• Structurally, identities remain unknown, leading to judgment based on actions, outcomes, and masks, thus preventing prejudice and political corruption. This makes organizations more sustainable and transparent.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of Full Mask is the difficulty of building deep relationships among employees.

Consider when you would disclose your medical history, address, or political beliefs. You would likely do so only with someone you deeply trust or share a close bond with, such as a friend or partner. Full Mask is similar; you would share your Plain Identity only with such individuals.

Of course, in a Full Mask environment, you are always wearing a mask, making it inherently challenging to form such relationships. It is akin to becoming close enough to meet in person in online communities or dating sites.

Indeed, the internet serves as a good analogy. Professional relationships are confined online without revealing your true face or real name. Stepping beyond that is exceptional and cannot be assumed.

Implementation

What is necessary to achieve Full Mask? Here are the elements to be prepared:

• 1: Full Three. Full Remote, Full Flex, Full Async (not complete but to a significant degree necessary)
• 2: Account Management. A system that associates accounts with outcomes without revealing Plain Identity
• 3: Mask Platform. A system for freely creating, sharing, and switching masks
• 4: Voice Changer. A system to forcibly alter one's vocal output

1: Full Three

Full Three refers to Full Remote, Full Flex, and Full Async. While full implementation is not necessary, it must be ingrained significantly at a company-wide level.

Consider whether the following all can be met corporately and as a standard:

• No need to visit the office even once a month
• Core working hours limited to a few hours per week
• Synchronous communication limited to one hour a day

If this level is not achieved, Full Mask might be premature. This is because Full Mask avoids exposing Plain Identity, which clashes severely with such "primitive ways of working" as commuting, meetings, and synchronous communication.

2: Account Management

In Full Mask, one wears a mask entirely, using dummy identities. This means utilizing accounts that do not reveal your Plain Identity. Commonly, you might already be creating separate personas and accounts on social media, especially in private life—it's similar to that.

Conceptually, the following elements are necessary:

• Mask
  • Some form of dummy identity
  • Visible as username or person name, always worn by someone
  • Masks have two states: "not worn by anyone" and "worn by someone," and masks in the "not worn by anyone" state can be adopted by anyone
  • When and which mask to use can be set per situation
    • For instance, a meeting of three seats might have 🐶, 🐱, and 🐵 masks prepared
• Account
  • A mask worn by a specific person only
  • Like a social media account with a visible profile
  • Employees can hold multiple accounts and create their own
• Core Account
  • The critical account linking masks and accounts
  • Specifies who the "person" is to obtain outputs through those dummy identities
  • Employees can hold multiple Core Accounts, similar to bank accounts
  • Core Accounts are not visible to other employees (nor can they be shown)
• Plain Identity
  • One's real name, appearance, gender
  • Although not disclosed in Full Mask, it must be submitted to the company
  • Should be treated like sensitive personal information
  • Must be linked to a Core Account, possibly multiple Core Accounts

This isn't an absolute solution but a reference model I designed. However, these four layers are considered necessary to achieve Full Mask.

Implement a system and structure allowing all employees to manage these layers.

3: Mask Platform

The Mask Platform is a platform allowing anyone to create, share, and switch masks freely. Consider it an internal platform for the organization. It overlaps with point 2 and corresponds to the system for the mask aspect.

In business chat tools like Slack or Teams, rooms are divided per team; masks follow a similar division. If affiliations differ, the masks used will also change. A platform must be capable of such flexibility.

4: Voice Changer

While Plain Identity doesn't include one's natural voice, being identified through voice, especially in terms of gender, often happens. As written in 1, opportunities for speaking are naturally limited, but they are not nonexistent, and when necessary, they are acted upon.

Therefore, a voice changer to alter vocal output is virtually essential. Moreover, its use should be compulsory, not optional. Typically, it's best to implement this with the mask platform, assigning a voice to each mask. Meaning, the voice of someone wearing Mask A is heard through the voice changer designated to A.

Conclusion

Full Mask entails not disclosing one's real name, appearance, or gender, instead wearing a mask.

The concept is straightforward, and realization is possible at this point, yet implementing it incurs considerable cost.