“Without trust we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.”
-Stephen Covey

In business, as in life, trust is elemental. We all cherish it. Most of us think we deserve it. Few of us think we violate it. But what exactly is it? At its core, trust means willingly ceding a measure of control to another – be it a person, organization, or institution – and without the apparent safety nets of a binding contract or other means of coercion in place. Although we trust with an expectation that others will respond in kind, vulnerability is the psychological hallmark of trust. We’re taking a risk, sometimes based on limited evidence. Trust is a leap of faith rooted in optimism.

We take trust for granted, not conscious of how it pervades relationships. Partners rely on partners; employers on employees; companies on each other; nations on other nations; families on other family members. And in a world in which the peer-to-peer economy is gaining ascendance – trust is all the more indispensable. Understanding the underpinnings of trust, therefore, is increasingly important as companies become more global, more competitive, more diverse culturally and demographically. Each new thread of well-founded trust adds strength and richness to the complex tapestry of our interwoven and personal lives.

But trust doesn’t just happen. It takes initiation, nurture, evaluation, and repair. Trust is earned. Trust builds over time, fostered not only by decency but also by enlightened self-interest, a recognition that trust works to everyone’s benefit. As a lubricant, trust accelerates decision-making, results in agreements that are both durable and flexible, and makes life infinitely more pleasant. Trust creates a bond among an organization’s associates, customers, and suppliers, which in turn accelerates its ability to deliver on its promises to each group. But trust is neither an end unto itself nor merely a technique for achieving a desired outcome. Trust is the operating system for a life well lived.

There is power in being trustworthy. In the economy of trust, what goes around, comes around. The more we look out for others, the more they look out for us. The more we trust, the more we are trusted. When trust is the medium of exchange, people collaborate and altruism can grow, again to everyone’s benefit.
-Joel Peterson, David Kaplan

“A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other.”
-Simon Sinek