Trust

According to the entry on wikipedia, trust is a relationship of reliance.

It does not need to involve belief in the good character, vices, or morals of the other party. And it does not need to include an action that you and the other party are mutually engaged in. In fact, trust is a prediction of reliance on an action, based on what a party knows about the other party.

In sociology (and psychology) the degree to which one party trusts another is a measure of belief in the honesty, benevolence and competence of the other party. Based on the most recent research, a failure in trust may be forgiven more easily if it is interpreted as a failure of competence rather than a lack of benevolence or honesty.

In psychology, trust is integral to the idea of social influence: it is easier to influence or persuade someone who is trusting.

That is if you trust the definition from a wiki.

I can trust you without liking you, I just need to respect you. I have written this before - we buy from brands we do not like, but we need to respect someone to have a relationship with them (if so inclined, look at my presentation on corporate bloggers).

If you cross me, there is no amount of competence you can throw at me. It's very difficult to come back from a falling of trust. Not impossible, as Stephen M.R. Covey (the son) writes, in Speed of Trust, it will take work and commitment.

Mileage may vary from individual to individual. I have written before about social capital and trust. This is a conversation where we are just skimming the surface at the moment. It is worth pondering the consequences of how we're thinking about trust, because it is affecting our reality and our world.

If we have the power to create our own future, what we see as our marketplace and economic environment at the moment is nothing to be proud of. Let's stop making excuses and start behaving our way out of it.

Trust has an enormous impact over the destiny of what is going on with social media and conversations. We need to start paying attention to language and be more aware of the difference between behavior and intention - we tend to judge other people's behavior on the basis of our own intention. They are often apples and oranges.

I don't know about you, but I find it more difficult to become intimate with issues these days. However, I have not lost the ability to become intimate with and interested in people. In fact, if anything, our hunger for intimacy and feeling special has increased exponentially. Could it be because we seek in others what we think we lost in ourselves?

Trust in organizations and entities is at an all time low. With reason. But we do need to have businesses and mechanisms to earn a living. What do you propose in their stead? Are you building a business that we can believe in? Lead us.

It's a two-way street - you cannot have your cake and eat it, too. Are your expectations unrealistic? Clarifying expectations is your first responsibility - to yourself and to others, in business and in life. This is all connected, yes, we have succeeded in bringing down the wall, now it's up to us to make it work, to bridge onto what's next.

Forrester says: people don't trust companies

Rich Becker puts it so well himself that I can hardly add to it. Why do we rely on an analyst to tell us what we already know? Do you trust your own company? Chances are you trust the people you work with. Think long and hard at this one. You don't have to tell me, just make sure you know yourself, deep down. It's a private conversation - yes, there is value in holding some things to yourself.

We contribute to companies - we vote both by joining as employees in opportunistic moves and by buying those products in consumerist moves.

If you read fiction, James Webb has written a great story about trust, compassion and loyalty in The Emperor's General. It will probably give you some food for thought on assigning blame.

We talk code

One of the most difficult jobs inside an organization is that of uncovering and communicating its purpose-idea. That is because most people think "brand" and when that happens, a curtain comes down. Thanks to the proliferation of talk on brands and everyone's exposure to marketing - some call it pounding - everyone thinks they know what it means and what the work entails.

Conversations come down to a matter of opinion.

And while opinions are important, as facts are, truth trumps both. "I don't like it," I hear. "Why don't you like it?" I ask. "I don't know, I just don't like it," is often the answer. It's not a thread or a conversation, and it becomes a distraction - it prevents the uncovering of purpose (truth) and direction.

Worse, I think that promotion and advertising (is there truth in?) have reinforced the dichotomy between personal intention and our judgment of the behavior of others against it. We project our own doubts and insecurities onto the actions of others.

Do you know what you want?

Let's face it, we're all on a quest for new trust mechanisms. Personal experiences have become the new barometer for extrapolating trends. We stopped outsourcing trust to institutions but instead of holding ourselves accountable for our own ethics and behavior, we have shifted that responsibility onto others. Then we cast stones at people we hold up as influentials when we were the ones putting them on the pedestal in the first place.

Chris is a person, in case you forgot, and so are you. He is an interesting person, because he is interested and curious. Start there as you pick apart what he has done with sponsorship. What have you actually done with sponsorship that we could hold as best practice? Let's not talk hypothetically here. Give me an example. Now tell me, will it work again? Is it repeatable? Teach me.

In theory lots of things work, and then they meet the reality, the messy reality of the marketplace - filled with customers. Customers are people, just like you. They can be difficult and downright unreasonable. Today at Fast Company expert blog we discuss what customers want and why marketers need to understand the job to do and not the customer to deliver something we may want to buy.

We and our behavior are made and shaped by the job we are trying to do, and through our interaction with others. Instead of casting stones, we'd do better at casting a pebble in the water. As Mark Earls writes in Herd, choose the pebble wisely, choose how to throw it - but once the stone leaves your hand you have to let it go. Watch its flight, by all means, but then sit back and watch the ripples that it creates roll across the water.

Know what you want, but do not get attached to outcomes. Relinquishing control with dignity is the greatest challenge of the 21st century, wrote Kevin Kelly. That is trust.

__________

Related posts:

Social Capital and Trust
Thriving on Chaos? Only When You Have Trust
Would you Tell Your Customers (and Employees) How Bad it is?
Privacy: Trading Trust for Cash

[image courtesy of thorinside]

Comments

[Denis]

"We project our own doubts and insecurities onto the actions of others."

a good reason of why companies fear trust, and fear being honest and open. They are scared of showing weakness and then to loose "image" and competitive advantage.

However, I believe that sometimes, in order to gain strenght, you need to show weakness.

(hopefully it makes sense!)

[Ayat]

It's interesting to note that humans can easily overcome feelings of mistrust if there is a "need" or "strong desire" for something. We are baffled to hear about people falling for scams on the internet for instance. If there wasn't that need and desire, that driving force, those same people would not fall victim to distrustful ads, e-mails, sites, etc.

[Maranda Gibson]

Companies shouldn't fear trust; trust only adds to the humanistic qualities of whoever you're dealing with and makes you more warm and approachable. I think that understanding this makes me less hostile when I am "the customer" because I know what it feels like to be on the other end of that phone call.

Personally, I'm not going to do business with a company that feels cold or untrustworthy. I want to feel confident and comfortable with the company I chose to spend money on.

[Denis]

the thing about trust and companies is like when you wear something very stupid (or you have very BBO), and nobody tells you.

I brought this example because, at least in Italy, people are not discussing about Brand A or Brand B as much as they would expect. Lack of conversation? Ops...

prospects are scared that negative feedback can ruin their reputation. If a company as this kind of worries, obviously they are not playing quite right. And definitely not a robust reputation, if it can be ruined so fast, innit?

since you do not trust the judgement of your prospective clients, they will not trust on your listening skills. brands are loosing precious insights about them... marketeer and researcher can hold to statistics as much as they love, but a statistic is just a presumption of reality

---

by the way, I worked as sales ex for a couple of years. I realised that, if i need to get information, I should avoid to call whoever is involved in marketing & communication. their are guarded by telling the truth. Should not be the time to change the culture?

[Brian DR1665]

As I see it, trust comes from one simple premise: Dependability. We can set goals all day long, but goals imply targets we may or may not hit. COMMITMENTS, on the other hand, imply an unwavering dedication to see things through come hell or high water.

It does not matter if you're looking to improve personal or corporate relations. If you make a commitment, see it through no matter what. Take a loss or give up on something else to make it happen if you have to, but make sure that your word truly is your bond. Show the world that you can be depended upon. Eradicate doubt.

In our hyper-connected world, having such a reputation for sincerity and unwavering reliability - in both good and bad times - will go a long way. It's not as easy as it sounds, but find one area of your life or business and commit to something for 2009. You'll see...

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Denis - I am aware of that fear and the rigid processes that companies put in place to control output to the point of too little, too late sometimes... I can tell you that the folks who call me to sell me have a very different experience and are often unprepared to offer solutions to my specific needs, just *their* canned product. Truly helpful account reps are few and far between. Trust issues are a big barrier to solving problems.

@Ayat - When reading your comment I was thinking about those 60-minute stories on multiple marriage scams... the need to feel loved. We are very much in a culture of desire.

@Maranda - I think we'll need to continue voting with our wallets to change anything. Becoming creative at finding products and services that solve our problem ourselves. I enjoyed your cartoon at Accuconference - so pertinent to this conversation!

@Brian - here's the difficulty - dependencies. Often decisions are made above your pay grade and although you are accountable for a job, the power to make it happen shifts and you do not get the support you need. This is where organizations can affect change the most, by helping their own employees succeed. That's why it's not easy. "find one area of your life or business and commit to something for 2009" right on!

[Neuromarketing]

Great post, trust is truly critical in so many ways.

Oddly, one way to gain trust is to offer your own: Show you trust your customer (http://neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/sales-trust-oxytocin.htm )

Roger

[Richard Reeve]

Been a hectic weekend for me and I haven't got up to speed on the stone throwing regarding Chris and the sponsorship thing...just seen bit and pieces in the twitter stream. So, it's OK for Tiger Woods to wear the Nike swoosh, right? What's amazing to me is that the companies whose tools Chris uses regularly in his practice within this space (google reader, firefox, Mac, wordpress, etc...)do not seize the opportunity to sponsor him throughout his travels, making it clear that they have bought the space for their logo on his computer bag or where ever, just as they do with every pro golfer and NASCAR driver. I think it's a missed opportunity for them and Chris.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Roger - we do create the conditions in which we operate. Neuroscience is one of my passions so I am very pleased to meet you, virtually. The email notification from Typepad is spotty today or you would be receiving a personalized message from me by email. Alas, all I see is the comment and your site - good post!

@Richard - Yes, what's wrong with sponsorship? I write for money every day at work - and so do millions of other professionals! Sometimes I think we lose sight that as people and economies, there needs to be a sustainable model for all this good stuff to continue and grow. I hear Chris is getting a lot of attention from Techmeme and online publications, so all is well that ends well.

[Carolyn Ann]

I'm not sure I trust Wikipedia! On such an important topic - not only does its definition sound like conjecture, but it's also "not quite right".

As a network manager, taking over a failing network, I had to gain the trust of a lot of people - my manager, the directors and VP's of the various departments, the CIO and the CFO. Heck, with the amount of money I asked for - I needed the CEO on my side, as well. I couldn't keep all of them happy, so whom did I "choose" to disappoint? My boss.

It helped that we not only didn't we trust each other, we just about hated each other! (Okay, we did hate each other. It made for a difficult working day, but that - in retrospect - was fine.)

Trust is a pliable thing; it's not cut and dried, at all! Can we trust Robert Gates to lead the US military? Sure. Can we trust him to be loyal to Barack Obama's policies? After reading his latest essay in "Foreign Affairs": I'd say he's been trying to implement them since the day he was nominated in 2006.

Can anyone trust their boss? It depends.

As far as issues go, they are the things that we need to be intimate with. People come and go (excuse me for being cynical. I just, well, am), but the central issues seem to carry across generations. The fleeting ones tend to be the ones we concentrate on, however.

Personally, I rarely trust people. ... Let me rephrase that: I trust people to have their own interests at heart; a motivation I'm happy to give a standing ovation to. If their interests and mine coincide: great! If they don't, fine. Personal friendships are another matter altogether; there, I'm in complete agreement with you. (From what I've been told, I gather there's a reason I don't have many personal friends...)

My apologies, I'm rambling. And consuming way too much space on your blog! Perhaps I need to get writing for myself?

Carolyn Ann

[peter]

Hi Valeria,

Having reflected on your post I'm convinced that the current crisis in trust is casualty of our growing impatience.

I haven't read the speed of trust. But if the title was a question I'd say the speed of trust was the speed of conversation and observation - I've found time to be an excellent judge of both character and predictability.

Of course there are proxies for time, a persons word, an analysts report, my expectation of what is right and just. But these are the poorest of substitute for patience.

Working with eastern companies I see a spirit of patience in commerce that is sadly lacking in many western companies who sacrifice "real" trust for speed -only to find they are out of business sooner than their competitors .

Funnily enough, I have never consider whether I can (should) be trusted. Perhaps I'll do that today.

Lovely postings Valeria et all.