Trust Factor

by Paul J. Zak

Why is the culture of a stagnant workplace so difficult to improve? Learn to cultivate a workplace where trust, joy, and commitment compounds naturally by harnessing the power of neurochemistry! For decades, business leaders have been equipping themselves with every book, philosophy, reward, and program, yet companies everywhere continue to struggle with toxic cultures, and the unhappiness and low productivity that go with them. In Trust Factor , neuroscientist Paul Zak shows that innate brain functions hold the answers we’ve been looking for. Put simply, the key to providing an engaging, encouraging, positive culture that keeps your employees energized is trust. When someone shows you trust, a feel-good jolt of oxytocin surges through your brain and triggers you to reciprocate. Within this book, Zak explains topics such This book also incorporates science-based insights for building high-trust organizations with successful examples from The Container Store, Zappos, and Herman Miller. Stop recycling the same ineffective strategies and programs for improving culture. By using the simple mechanisms in Trust Factor, you can create a perpetual trust-building cycle between your management and staff, thus ending stubborn workplace patterns.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Psychology, Management, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Cultural

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2023

About the author

Dr. Paul J. Zak is Distinguished University Professor at Claremont Graduate University and is in the top 0.3% of most cited scientists. Paul’s two decades of research extending the boundaries of behavioral neuroscience have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rainforest of Papua New Guinea. In 2017 he founded Immersion Neuroscience, a software platform that allows anyone to measure what the brain loves in real-time that is used to improve outcomes in entertainment, education, advertising, and emotional health. He is a regular TED speaker and appears in the media regularly. https://pauljzak.com

Reviews

[Zajal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phenomenal book. Brought the science in to explain the basis of the human behavior.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trust is a key element of a company being successful and prospering. In this book the neuroscientist author shows how a culture-shift and move towards a more trustworthy form of operations can yield dividends for a company.

The core concept can be quite simple, even if the transformation process may be difficult for many. Yet it may be essential as the benefits can aid the company internally with better-engaged employees, as well as hitting the bottom-line with customers voting with their wallets.

At the heart is the author’s claim that trust is reciprocal, when someone shows you trust the brain triggers a reciprocal action. The author has been extensively researching this subject and believes that boosting trust can be a great cure for any business, boosting engagement, workplace happiness and, of course, leading to financial benefits.

It all led to an interesting read that was accessible and engaging, backed up with some case studies to show how a few companies have “got it” and are benefitting from it. You do need to focus on the book and its message to get the most out of it. Reserve a little “me time”.

Even though this is aimed at companies, of course the private individual could also utilise the core research for their own good and benefit. Why not give it a try?

[Jeff McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall not awful. I think the discussion post book made this one a four star for me. Heads up, his love for acronyms is unmatched and The last chapter is basically a big flex on his part

Fav quote: careers produce joy; jobs seldom do.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutionary research with affordable practical applications and great benefits!
The work of 20 years of arduous research by Paul J Zack, who shares us in this book, is astonishing and of great value. The proposal to build a culture of trust has the potential to make a significant difference to the quality of life of employees and the growth of organizations. Early experiments identified the promoters and inhibitors of the hormone oxytocin and its association with trustworthiness.
Subsequently, he carried out experiments obtaining data with thousands of employees, and was able to identify 8 management behaviors that promote this hormone. Such behaviors, when combined with feedback and effective communication of the organization's purpose, foster a culture of trust, ... which in turn increases commitment, empathy, joy, satisfaction and high-level performance.
The entire model is well explained and can be applied to our businesses or organizations for multiple benefits. It is undoubtedly a very valuable book that gives us tools for the invaluable application of this culture of trust, which can be quantified, the results can be followed up, so that it can gradually be incorporated to improve the culture in our organization.
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book

[Ceil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought Zak’s Trust Factor after having read and been impressed by http://www.clomedia.com/2017/02/09/neuroscience-building-trust-cultures and http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fcpb0000076 (which you can find elsewhere without having to buy it). For my money, the more academic treatises are better – great overview of the role of brain chemicals in building trust, and of the role of high trust organizations in driving performance and employee purpose. If you want a popularized book-length treatment of the same topic, I’d recommend Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

One addition to his academic work in Zak’s book is the chapter-ending Monday Morning Lists for each section. These have super useful suggestions for concrete things to do to build the elements of trust (the acronym is OXYTOCIN).

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joy=Trust x Purpose is the author's premise in this book.

It's my opinion that his definition of purpose is simplistic and overgeneralizes rationale for how to inspire others by attempting to "connect" people's feelings to company vision.

Purpose is much more nuanced and grounded in what an individual feels about why THEY do what they do. I suspect purpose is also highly influenced by where someone is within adult development scale, how financially secure they feel, how tolerant they are of uncertainty, etc.

It's also my judgement that following the books oversimplified guidance may result in an individual feeling more manipulated than generally inspired. Would you think that manipulation undermines trust?

Are formulaic "five why" question and answer sessions as effective as one on one, authentic conversations and your ability to facilitate psychological safety ? What do you think?

[Fred Cheyunski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brain Science and Organization - My attraction to this book grew out of my previous work with ‘trust’ and ‘high performance organizations (e.g. see reviews of Johansen and Sibbet’s Leading Business Teams: How Teams Can Use Technology and Group Process Tools to Enhance Performance (Addison-wesley Series on Organization Development) , Kates and Galbraith’s Designing Your Organization: Using the STAR Model to Solve 5 Critical Design Challenges , and O’Toole and Lawler’s The New American Workplace: The Follow-up to the Bestselling Work in America ) and an interest in learning more about further developments on related topics (e.g. see review of Hawkins’ Power vs. Force ’).

In an Introduction, author Zak relates his neuro/economic experiments regarding trust and how he started to relate these efforts to organizations. An initial chapter, The Science of Culture, includes a diagram (page 23) that lays out a model showing how oxytocin creates trust improving mood and organizational performance. In the eight chapters that follow, Zak describes eight factors that the neuroscience affirms are the building blocks of organizational trust and ways they have been put into practice in different companies such as Zappos, Trader Joes, AIG, Deloitte, KPMG, Starbucks, and Google. Cleverly, the factors take their names from OXYTOCIN: Ovation (i.e. recognition); eXpectation (i.e. facing challenge as a group); Transfer (i.e. self-management/job design); Openness (i.e. transparency/sharing of information); Caring (i.e. Intentionally building relationships); Invest (i.e. enable whole person growth; and Natural (i.e. honest and vulnerable leaders). There are two remaining chapters (i.e. Joy = Trust x Purpose, and Performance) that discuss how that factors are channeled through purpose narratives to produce results. Finally, there are acknowledgements, an index, and notes (with extensive footer comments on references from author’s research and that of others to back-up and support assertions and material in the book). At the end of each chapter, there is also a ‘Monday Morning List’ with suggested actions such as taking a survey available via a website to follow along with during the course of the book.

The favorite parts of the book for me were those where Zak explains the brain science as it pertains to organizational interactions early on and throughout the chapters. For instance, he states that “It turns out that ‘trust begets trust’ is just how the brain works . . . the more trust one is shown, the more the brain produces oxytocin . . . oxytocin works by activating a brain network that makes us more empathetic . . . effective social beings . . . [with] enhanced . . . feeling . . . for cooperating and treating others well . . . “(pages 16-18). Also compelling are remarks that substantiate business benefit and in the final chapters that talk about the various stories, survey results in different types of organizations and among the respective trust factors.

It is helpful to see trust getting attention, the current work on brain science and organizations as well as projections about what may be needed to further advance organizational change (e.g. see Gibbon’s ‘The Science of Successful Organizational Change’ page 10). However, what really will be interesting will be to see how such current writers can further incorporate the lessons derived from applied behavioral science since its inception to more recently from veterans such as Burke (Organization Change: Theory and Practice ), Bushe and Marshak Dialogic Organization Development: The Theory and Practice of Transformational Change), Cameron and Quinn (Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework and Worley and Lawler ( The Agility Factor: Building Adaptable Organizations for Superior Performance ) as efforts continue to address emerging conditions (e.g. see Rushkoff’s Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity ).

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't really work for me. I found it hard to remember his jargon through the book as some of his names for things were not intuitive. I didn't really understand the percentages he quoted either, since they did not sum to 100%. Also some of his examples of companies doing good things seemed contradictory to some of his other points. For example where he mentioned a company which sends a corporate gift to all its employees, it is neither personal nor time-related to their achievements. The book does contain a lot of basic good advice about management though. You can pick up most of those points from any modern management book, but it is still good to learn if you have not read it elsewhere yet.

[Alejandro Cabral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read, backed with studies and data that proves Culture matters in organizations

I loved the concept of the book, it is plagued with examples and stats that point to one fact: when employees trust their employers and are challenged enough (one could say as long as they live in a semi-constant flow state), good things happen...and this is the first time someone actually measures it. Science applied to what has always been the realm of gurus. Very powerful.

The one thing I personally was ok with but not crazy about was the author’s writing style.

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trust Factor was everything you could expect in a workplace help book. It had some really good points with some solid data applicable to anyone who has ever worked with other people; it also had entire chapters just dedicated to trying to spell out the "easily remembered" OXYTOCIN. The book felt more dedicated to supporting the structure of the message rather than supporting the message with the structure.
A good read overall, but it could definitely use with some trimming and consolidating. Some chapters are just not worth it.

[Zoë Routh · Rating 5 out of 5]

science-backed good stories of building more human workplaces for joy and profit

This text is grounded in case study after case study, steeped in neuroscience and great research.

My critique is around style rather than substance: using acronyms to capture a methodology makes my teeth grind. Inevitably the words are twisted to fit: eXpectation for example. Hard to remember.

Otherwise a solid book with concrete takeaways for building better cultures, boost trust, and increase performance.

[Peter Blok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trust is number one

Although Zak is slightly dogmatic in his approach and leaves little room for questions or doubt, the strong element of his argument is that workers need autonomy in their work. This is confirmed by many academics. He is not very critical about tech giants like Google and Linkedin who are first of all collecting data for their own benefit and not so much to please their users.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes a strong case for trust as the foundation of a productive work culture. I would love a second book which explores experiments in improving the level of trust in organizations. My only wish is that the non-profit and government sectors were covered more thoroughly, but I can see that it is the nature of which organizations engage with the author’s center.

[Irene Gracesiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joy is created from trust and transcendent purpose.
The correlation between Trust × Purpose and Joy is 0.77
The author explains trust from biology and psychology perspective! The author also introduces the concept of the "trust molecule" oxytocin and explores how it can be stimulated through specific actions and behaviors, leading to increased trust and improved performance.

[Daniël Boerstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to get insights on how to change your company culture in a high-performance high-trust one? Just read this book and you are very well equipped why certain things need to be done to make sure the right chemical release is connected in our brains.

[Robin Bittick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book providing empirical evidence for factors contributing to an organizational culture of trust. Should be read by those who run organizations as well as those who wish to run organizations (including business, non-profit, and government organizations).

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting info re: high performance cultures

[Wai-kit Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched book. Made a lot of sense. Although the terms are slightly different, but it collaborated well with Drive by Daniel Pink. Learned a lot and have many ideas.

[Grazyna Nawrocka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I agree with ideas in this book, it still seems to me slightly idealistic. I liked it, and would recommend reading it to anybody.

[Sojel Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think everyone should read this who is trying to be in business! Such a great one to understand!

[Justin Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended to me by a YC founder I met through my friend Rishi Ramen during a conversation on relationships and trust building.

I enjoyed the components of the text that focused on connecting actions to the chemical release in the brain and how these chemicals impact the feeling of connection humans form.

Unfortunately these portions were primarily in the first 3rd of the book and majority of the text was more fluffy on what management practices to implement. Things that I learned in business and reading other books.

While the book did provide good frameworks, such as work life integration vs work life balance, I would have liked to see more scientific writing and a chapter on personal relationships as that would provide a holistic view to support concepts like life integration.

I would recommend to anyone who has an appetite for neuroscience and is early on in their management philosophy.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a class, and found it to be interesting, but I remain skeptical about the "science". As a relatively short book, I recommend it for anyone interested in reading a wide range of publications on leadership and management. However, the theory that O-X-Y-T-O-C-I-N leadership tools are rooted in science is not completely convincing. The true strength of Trust Factor lies in its vast amount of anecdotal information and concrete action items that can be implemented to improve an organization. While the neuroscience presented in the book provides for an interesting discussion, it does not place place the book on a list of must-read leadership and management books.

[Simon Rycraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr Zak’s research into the science behind the emotion of trust is both ground breaking and critical to so many personal and professional interactions this book is a must read!

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my review here.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a point of contention in the modern business world whether it is better to have a strict hierarchical management structure with firm adherence to a rigid set of rules that keep workers in their place or to severely limit the command nature of the hierarchy, allowing workers to make their own decisions. The first is a low trust environment and the second a high trust one. Furthermore, in the strictly structured organization, workers are expected to work long hours, limit their vacation time and closely follow directions. In the second, worker fatigue and exhaustion is understood and workers are encouraged to simply drop everything from time to time in order to recharge.
This book takes a position in favor of the second organizational structure and the arguments are made in two ways. Paul Zak is a neuroscientist and much of his work has been research into the levels of specific neurochemicals in the blood. He puts forward the arguments that when a worker is trusted to do the work and make their own decisions, the levels of key neurochemicals changes in the direction that improves performance. When workers are kept rigidly confined, the levels go in the wrong direction.
The second argument is based on case studies of companies that have adopted unusual organizational tactics, even to the point of paying poor hires to leave the company. Zak cites a statistic that I have read in several other publications, that companies that trust their employees and give them power over their work tend to outperform those that don’t.
In the modern world where there is a great deal of electronic decision support and business is global and moving at a rapid rate, empowering employees that are highly skilled to make the necessary moves is essential. There has always been a gap between the average and high achievers and there is a lot of evidence to indicate that the difference is growing.
While some will find what they consider to be heresies in this book, the objection to the gap in salaries between the workers and the CEO and questioning the true role of a corporation in the modern world, it is an important book for all decision makers. Every successful company has superstars and people are not interchangeable. Therefore, the point of this book about allowing people to develop and use their skills is one that all should consider.