From “The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything” by Stephen M. R. Covey Here’s another example on a much smaller scale. “Jim,” a vendor in New York City, set up shop and sold donuts and coffee to passersby as they went in and out of their office buildings. During the breakfast and …
From “The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything” by Stephen M. R. Covey Consider another example, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in the U.S. in response to the Enron, WorldCom, and other corporate scandals. While it appears that Sarbanes-Oxley may be having a positive effect in improving or at least sustaining trust …
When trust is low, speed goes down and cost goes up Read More »
A cynic might ask, “So what? Is trust really more than a nice-to-have social virtue, a so-called hygiene factor? Can you measurably illustrate that trust is a hard-edged economic driver?” I intent to answer these questions emphatically in this book by clearly demonstrating the strong business case for trust. Here’s a simple formula that will …
Simply put, trust means confidence. The opposite of trust – distrust – is suspicion. When you trust people, you have confidence in them, in their integrity and in their abilities. When you distrust, you are suspicious of them – of their integrity, their agenda, their capabilities, or their track record. It’s that simple. We have …
There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy, and civilization throughout the world – one thing which, if removed, will destroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love. On …
Low trust causes friction, whether it is caused by unethical behavior or by ethical but incompetent behavior (because even good intentions can never take the place of bad judgment). Low trust is the greatest cost in life and in organizations, including families. Low trust creates hidden agendas, politics, interpersonal conflict, interdepartmental rivalries, win-lose thinking, defensive …
The First Wave: Self Trust The first wave, Self Trust, deals with the confidence we have in ourselves – in our ability to set and achieve goals, to keep commitments, to walk our talk – and also with our ability to inspire trust in others. The whole idea is to become, both to ourselves and …
Some people say you can’t change behavior. But there is clear evidence, to indicate that people can and do change behavior – sometimes dramatically – and that doing so often produces extraordinary results. Look at Anwar Sadat, who changed his anti-Israel behavior so dramatically that he brought Egypt and Israel, two long-standing enemies, together to …
Now consider the dividends of high trust. Obviously the opposites of the 7 Low-Trust Organizational Taxes we’ve just discussed are dividends. To lower or eliminate redundancy, bureaucracy, disengagement, politics, turnover, churn, and fraud will certainly make a huge positive difference in the Trust Accounts and results in any organization. But there are additional high-trust dividends …
Redundancy Redundancy is unnecessary duplication. Of course, redundant mission-critical systems and data management are necessary. But a redundancy tax is paid in excessive organizational hierarchy, layers of management, and overlapping structures all designed to ensure control. For the most part, it grows out of the paradigm that unless people are tightly supervised, they can’t be …
