“Trust, not money, is the currency of business and life.” David Horsager, author, The Trust Edge.
How do you KNOW when you can really trust someone?
A friend from GoRead recently said to me, “I don’t know WHO I can trust anymore!”
I paused to reflect. “Well, we can always rely on our intuition,” I suggested.
But then, I wondered. What if our inner guidance system isn’t working well?
All good relationships rely on trust. Since I’ve experienced my share of disappointments, I felt drawn to learnig more about the topic of trust. In this third part of my series, I’ll provide highlights from the outstanding book, “The Trust Edge” by author David Horsager.
Horsager teaches us how to build a foundation of trustworthiness, referred to as, “The Eight Pillars Of Trust.” These eight traits have proven to bring dramatic results to relationships.
So are you ready? Let’s venture forward! If you missed the earlier Pillars of Trust, you can check my articles, covering Pillars 1-4. Let’s continue on… Tally-ho!
PILLAR #5: COMMITMENT
Think about the great leaders in our world. Washington, Lincoln, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. Their commitment is obvious, unwavering, and genuine. They are leaders who care about causes beyond themselves.
Trustworthy leaders take responsibility. They make sacrifices. They consistently do what they say. Is that what you do? If so, others probably notice it too.
“Deflecting blame is no way to build trust,” advises Horsager. Trustworthy people are able to apologize for mistakes with sincerity.
Beyond that, the ones we trust will often over-deliver on a promise. Going that “extra mile” reinforces the feeling that we’ve found a trustworthy person.
PILLAR #6: CONNECTION
“In every interaction, we increase or decrease trust,” says Horsager.
Think about that. Everyday, we have a choice about our behavior. What are we doing to attract or repel others?
To increase trust, we need to reach out, and develop a friendly connection with people.
Remember the old AT&T commercial, “Reach Out and Touch Someone?” It captured the essence of the value of connections. (Check it out on the highlighted words above. It’s amazing how old-fashioned the cord phone looks in today’s world!)
Every friendly connection builds an invisible bond between us and someone else. To strengthen your trustworthiness, you’ll want to embody traits that are “Magnetic” vs. “Repellent.”
Magnetic: Grateful, Good listener, positive, optimistic, encouraging…
Repellent: Thankless, talker only, complaining, pessimistic, critical…
Want to practice building positive connections? You’ll benefit from excellent ideas in Stan Holden’s book, “Giving Candy To Strangers.”
Next week, I’ll pull back the invisible curtain on the final two pillars. Until then, please realize that our world desperately needs more leaders who can be trusted.
Leaders who demonstrate: CLARITY – COMPASSION – CHARACTER – COMPETENCY – COMMITMENT – CONNECTION.
We need leaders like YOU!