Business leaders have to show a healthy dose of discretion when they speak. For all the benefits of honest and authenticity, you’re almost never going to get in trouble for what you don’t say. It’s when you say something that you shoudn’t — a racy remark, a dirty joke, a trade secret, and, more often than not, the unvarnished truth — that you put your personal and professional reputation at risk.

In a column in Entrepreneur, Vocatus CEO Ray Hennessey laid out his advice for why executives should always assume that their microphone is always on.