Can You Trust People?

January 17, 2011

Interview with Stephen M.R.Covey, author of the book Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World

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Mike Carruthers:
We are probably less trusting of other people today than ever before.

Stephen M.R. Covey:
In a low trust world we tend to become more suspicious, more cynical, more distrusting because none of us want to get burned.
 

Stephen M.R. Covey, author of the book Smart Trust...

But at the same time there’s overwhelming data in evidence that shows that operating with high trust gets better outcomes, better results, better economic performance, better energy, greater joy. So, the dilemma is how do we operate with high trust in a low trust world without getting burned?

And that requires judgment and analysis of each situation, but Stephen believes that…

Generally speaking most people can be trusted. And I know there’s exceptions galore, I can name them too, I’m not naive and Pollyannaish on it but that is the starting point and that’s one of the key actions you chose to believe in trust. And that belief opens up possibilities.

When people trust each other and when companies trust their workers the results are impressive.

It gets results in terms of prosperity meaning for a business greater speed, lower cost – when people trust each other you move incredibly fast. You also get greater energy, nothing energizers people like being trusted. You also get greater joy, greater happiness, greater satisfaction, more fun in the culture when there’s high trust and that’s true not only in a culture, it’s true in a relationship - it’s true in almost all of life.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here