More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
November 5, 2013 - January 12, 2014
Simply put, trust means confidence.
In a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing, and people will still get your meaning. In a low-trust relationship, you can be very measured, even precise, and they’ll still misinterpret you.
The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted. —MAHATMA GANDHI
we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior. This is why, as we’ll discuss later, one of the fastest ways to restore trust is to make and keep commitments—even very small commitments—to ourselves and to others.
Trust always affects two outcomes—speed and cost. When trust goes down, speed will also go down and costs will go up.
while high trust won’t necessarily rescue a poor strategy, low trust will almost always derail a good one.
The 20% Dividend (Trust Is a Visible Asset) In the organization . . . In personal relationships . . . • The focus is on work • Effective collaboration and execution • Positive partnering relationships with employees and stakeholders • Helpful systems and structures • Strong creativity and innovation • Cooperative, close, vibrant relationships • A focus on looking for and leveraging one another’s strengths • Uplifting and positive communication • Mistakes seen as learning opportunities and quickly forgiven • Positive energy and positive people
Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him. —BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
to think that trust is based on character only is a myth.
Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive, your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, your results, your track record. And both are vital.
people trust people who make things happen.
You can’t have trust without ethics, but you can have ethics without trust.
Character is a constant; it’s necessary for trust in any circumstance. Competence is situational; it depends on what the circumstance requires.
Ethics theory says, “Do the right thing” (character) and “Get the right thing done” (competence).
Decision-making approaches focus on balancing the “heart” (character) with the “head” (competence).
“If you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem.
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 second wave, Relationship Trust, is about how to establish and increase the “trust accounts” we have with others.
The key principle underlying this wave is consistent behavior,
The third wave, Organizational Trust, deals with how leaders can generate trust in all kinds of organizations,
The key principle underlying this wave, alignment,
The fourth wave, Market Trust, is the level at which almost everyone clearly understands the impact of trust.
The underlying principle behind this wave is reputation.
The fifth wave, Societal Trust, is about creating value for others and for society at large.
The principle underlying this wave is contribution.
Leadership is getting results in a way that inspires trust.
The means are as important as the ends. How you go about achieving results is as important as the results themselves, because when you establish trust, you increase your ability to get results the next time.
The First Wave— Self Trust The Principle of Credibility
it basically boils down to these four issues: your integrity, your intent, your capabilities, and your results.
What’s the net result of repeated failure to make and keep commitments to ourselves? It hacks away at our self-confidence. Not only do we lose trust in our ability to make and keep commitments, we fail to project the personal strength of character that inspires trust.
While integrity includes honesty, it’s much more. It’s integratedness. It’s walking your talk. It’s being congruent, inside and out.
One way to visualize the importance of all 4 Cores of Credibility is through the metaphor of a tree. Integrity is essentially below the surface. It is the root system out of which everything else grows. Intent becomes somewhat more visible. It is the trunk that emerges from beneath the surface out into the open. Capabilities are the branches. They are the capacities that enable us to produce. Results are the fruits—the visible, tangible, measurable outcomes that are most easily seen and evaluated by others.
As Albert Camus said, “Integrity has no need of rules.
A person has integrity when there is no gap between intent and behavior…when he or she is whole, seamless, the same—inside and out. I call this “congruence.” And it is congruence—not compliance—that will ultimately create credibility and trust.
People who are congruent act in harmony with their deepest values and beliefs. They walk their talk. When they feel they ought to do something, they do it. They’re not driven by extrinsic forces, including the opinions of others or the expediency of the moment. The voice they listen and respond to is the quiet voice of conscience.
My life is an indivisible whole, and all my activities run into one another…. My life is my message. —MAHATMA GANDHI
A humble person is more concerned about what is right than about being right, about acting on good ideas than having the ideas, about embracing new truth than defending outdated position, about building the team than exalting self, about recognizing contribution than being recognized for making it.
Humble people also realize clearly that they do not stand alone, but rather on the shoulders of those who have gone before, and that they move upward only with the help of others.
Integrity also includes the courage to do the right thing—even when it’s hard.
I’d like to suggest three high-leveraged “accelerators” that make a powerful difference in increasing integrity.
1. Make and Keep Commitments to Yourself
First, don’t make too many commitments. If you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Differentiate between a goal, a direction, a focus, and an actual commitment. When you make a commitment to yourself, do so with the clear understanding that you’re pledging your integrity.
Second, treat a commitment you make to yourself with as much respect as you do the commitments you make to others.
Third, don’t make commitments impulsively.
To the degree to which you remain open to new ideas, possibilities, and growth, you create a trust dividend;
In law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of another. In ethics, he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so. —IMMANUEL KANT
While our motives and agendas are deep inside in our own hearts and minds, they become visible to others through our behaviors and as we share them with others.
I am convinced that no discussion of intent would be complete without talking about three things: motive, agenda, and behavior.
The motive that inspires the greatest trust is genuine caring—caring about people, caring about purposes, caring about the quality of what you do, caring about society as a whole.
The agenda that generally inspires the greatest trust is seeking mutual benefit—genuinely wanting what’s best for everyone involved.
