Name: Trust
Rating: 4.6 (275 reviews)
Author: Dr. Henry Cloud

What’s in it for me? Learn the art of forging trust.

The Russian playwright Anton Chekov once said, “You must trust and believe in people, or life becomes impossible.” Trust is the foundation of nearly all our social relationships. Our businesses, governments, and justice systems run on trust; as do our families, friendships, and love lives.

But who should you trust? How can you get people to trust you? And how, for that matter, can you make yourself worthy of trust?

In this Blink, you’ll learn about the five key elements needed for trust to flourish, whether that’s in your private or your public life. You’ll also learn how , when trust has been weakened, you can rebuild it and learn to trust again.

Trust holds life together

Trust is the bedrock of our lives. From the moment we’re born, we’re placed in the hands of caregivers we can’t help but trust completely. As we grow, our circle of trust expands to family, friends, and communities.

Studies show that people with higher levels of trust enjoy better physical health, greater overall happiness, and greater satisfaction with life. In business, trusted leaders are more effective and trusted brands are more successful and lucrative. Teams whose members trust each other consistently outperform their low-trust counterparts across a slew of metrics.

Even at the level of nations, interpersonal trust contributes to economic development, through increased investment and capital flows.

Okay, so we’ve established that trust is important on many levels. Let’s look at the five steps to building it.

Take baby steps toward trust

Picture this. A thief is cornered by police during a failed bank robbery. Panicked, he grabs a nearby child as a human shield to secure his escape. Police surround the bank and call in a hostage negotiator to resolve the situation.

Now imagine that hostage negotiator is you. You’re holding your phone and the hostage-taker is on the other end of the line. The stakes could hardly be higher.

There are three more ingredients for trust

Let’s say you’re founding a startup. Searching for cofounders, you consider a dear friend you’ve known since childhood. Nobody understands you better than they do. You’ve been through it all together and they’ve always had your back.

So, as a friend, you trust them completely – but does that mean you trust them to go on this journey with you? Not necessarily.

Rebuilding trust that’s been broken

As business magnate Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

We’ve seen how involved it is to build trusting relationships. And yet even more challenging is rebuilding trust once it’s been broken. Think about a spouse caught having an affair. This is trust-building in hard mode.

Final Summary

Trust is the glue that holds your personal, family, and business relationships together. It’s essential you know how to cultivate it. Trust has five essential ingredients: understanding, motive, ability, character, and track record. When trust has been broken, follow the six steps outlined in this Blink to find out if your trust can and should be repaired.

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