The TRUST Show: Recent Episodes
Yoram Solomon
Welcome to The Trust Show. I’m your host, Yoram Solomon, researcher of trust, and the author of the book of trust. In this educational podcast, I will challenge you to think differently about trust, through the 8 laws of trust and the 6 components of trustworthiness. I will share my own stories, experiences of others, trust research, and sometimes, reflect on a news item. And through those, I will show you how to build trust, be trusted, and know who to trust.
In this episode—the final chapter reading from The Trust Premium—I read the Epilogue, the Acknowledgements, and the About the Author section, bringing the book to a close. After exploring what trust really means, how it behaves, and how to build it, this final message offers a call to action: to not just understand trust, but to truly earn it. I also share personal reflections, acknowledgments of those who supported this journey, and even some thoughts on using AI ethically in the creative process.
Starting in the next episode, we’ll return to regular programming with bi-weekly episodes that explore real-world trust dilemmas, current events, and practical applications of the Trust Premium framework. And if you’ve enjoyed the chapter readings, stay tuned—the audiobook version of The Trust Premium is coming soon.
In this episode of The Trust Show, I continue reading Chapter 18 of The Trust Premium and cover the final three steps of the Trust Habits® process — the practical framework designed to help you turn positive intentions into consistent trust-building behavior.
We’ll talk about how to make new habits stick, why involving an accountability partner increases your chances of success, and why repetition is the secret to truly becoming more trusted. This is the final chapter with new content in the book, and in the next episode, I’ll be reading the epilogue and acknowledgments as we bring this journey to a close.
In this episode of The Trust Show, I begin reading Chapter 18 of The Trust Premium: “Trust Habits – Forming New Habits that Change Old Behaviors and Build Trust.” This chapter marks a big shift—from understanding how trust works to actually changing the behaviors that affect how much your customers trust you. I introduce the 7-step Trust Habits® framework, but in this episode, I only had time to cover the first four steps: focusing on the right customer segment, identifying limiting behaviors, defining new habits, and making them SMART. These are practical, actionable steps to help you start building habits that lead to greater trust—and a higher Trust Premium. In the next episode, two weeks from now, I’ll cover the remaining three steps.
In this episode, we begin Part IV of The Trust Premium—the final part of the book, where we move from understanding trust to applying it through a structured process. I read Chapter 17, which introduces the Trust Premium Process, a three-phase framework designed to help you identify whether your industry rewards trust, how much of a premium customers are willing to pay, and how to target the segments that value it most. You’ll learn how to survey your industry, assess your current trust position, and prepare to build new trust-building habits that will raise your value, retention, and referrals. If trust is a differentiator, this is how you make it work for you.
What makes a customer trust you before they’ve even met you? In this episode, I read Chapter 16 of The Trust Premium and explore the final behavior in Part III of the book: transferrable trust. You’ll learn how trust flows into and out of customer relationships through Reviews, References, Recommendations, and Reputation—the Four Rs. We’ll talk about how to ethically build outbound trust, how prospective customers interpret it as inbound trust, and how to avoid common missteps that damage credibility. This is where trust gets passed—not just earned—and it’s a critical part of how you grow your influence and your business.
I know—it’s been over two months since my last episode. I’ve been buried in writing a textbook and workbook called Is it Really a Great Idea? That’s where I’ve been. And in this episode, I’ll share what happened during those two months, how the book came together, and why it became a textbook—not just another business book.
This will be the only time I talk about it here, because I’m launching a second podcast focused entirely on idea evaluation and entrepreneurship.
Starting now, this podcast will come out every other week. The new podcast will release on the alternating weeks. And yes—I’ll be back next episode to finish the last four chapters of The Trust Premium.
Thanks for sticking with me. Let’s catch up.
In this episode, I read Chapter 15 of The Trust Premium, continuing Part III: Behaviors That Will Make Your Customers Trust You. This chapter is all about empathy—not just as a nice-to-have, but as a powerful tool to earn deeper trust, stronger loyalty, and ultimately, the Trust Premium.
We explore how to genuinely understand your customers: their context, preferences, fears, and values. From researching publicly available info to asking thoughtful (but respectful) questions, from finding common ground to navigating differences—this chapter outlines how to make your customers feel heard, valued, and understood.
Empathy builds connection. And connection builds trust.
This is a short chapter—and a short episode—but one that deserves to stand on its own. In this episode, I read Chapter 14 of The Trust Premium, continuing Part III: Behaviors That Will Make Your Customers Trust You.
We look at how trust is shaped in the earliest moments of a professional interaction. From being on time and showing your face, to being prepared and present, the way you manage time, intimacy, and first impressions can make all the difference.
We also touch on the risks of faking personalization with AI tools—how it might seem efficient, but ultimately backfires when customers realize you weren’t genuinely invested.
Sometimes, it’s the smallest actions that have the biggest impact on trust.
In this episode, I read Chapter 13 of The Trust Premium, continuing Part III: Behaviors That Will Make Your Customers Trust You. This chapter explores one of the most fundamental trust-building behaviors: being real.
We all have a built-in BS detector—and your customers are no exception. In a world of hype, inflated claims, and performative professionalism, the No-BS approach stands out. From setting realistic expectations to admitting when you don’t know something, from avoiding exaggerated titles to respecting competitors and maintaining confidentiality—this chapter lays out what it looks like to build trust through integrity, humility, and truth.
When you stop trying to sound impressive and just focus on being honest, trustworthy, and clear—that’s when trust really starts to grow.
In this episode, I read Chapter 12 of The Trust Premium, which marks the start of Part III: Behaviors That Will Make Your Customers Trust You. This chapter covers the first of five key trust-building behaviors—and it challenges the old mantra that “the customer is always right.”
Instead of defaulting to agreement, trusted professionals know when to speak up, when to offer guidance, and when to say “no.” In this episode, we explore how professional integrity, respectful pushback, and honest conversations create stronger, more trusted relationships with clients—and ultimately, earn you the Trust Premium.
And always remember: not all customers are alike. Some truly just want to be right—and sometimes, they actually are. Being a trusted advisor also means staying open to the possibility that you might be the one who’s wrong.
In this episode, I read Chapter 11 of The Trust Premium, which brings us to the conclusion of Part II of the book. This chapter steps back from the model and the laws to explore the deeper foundations of trust—the underlying principles that guide how trust is built, lost, and earned. We look at relativity, the idea that trust is not one-size-fits-all; empathy, the ability to see the world through your customer’s eyes; no-BS, the power of honesty and transparency; and nuance, the often-overlooked details that can make or break a trusting relationship. These four principles shape everything else in the book, and understanding them is key to becoming a truly trustworthy professional.
Trust isn’t just about who you are—it’s also about what you do in every interaction with a customer. In this episode, I continue reading Chapter 10 of The Trust Premium, focusing on the three key components that shape trust in the moment: Positivity, Time, and Intimacy. I discuss why radical honesty (No-BS) and empathy are essential for building trust, how first impressions and consistent behavior impact trust over time, and the role of deeper, richer interactions in accelerating trust. I also explore why bad is stronger than good—how a single negative action can outweigh multiple positive ones, making trust much easier to lose than to build.
Do your customers truly trust you, or do you just think they do? In this episode, I read Chapter 9 of The Book of TRUST, where we explore the surprising trust gap between businesses and their customers. Then, I dive into the first half of Chapter 10, introducing the Relative Trust Model and focusing on the first three components that shape trust before an interaction even begins: Competence, Personality Compatibility, and Symmetry.
How do customers judge your expertise? Does personality compatibility affect trust? And why does fairness in your relationship matter? Tune in to find out—and don’t miss the next episode, where I’ll cover the remaining components of the model and discuss the impact of "what you do" during an interaction.
Trust isn’t just about honesty or reliability—it follows specific patterns and behaviors that influence every interaction, especially in the customer-provider relationship. In this episode, I read Chapters 7 and 8 of The Trust Premium, where we transition from why trust is essential to what trust really is.
I’ll introduce my definition of trust and break down the Eight Laws of Trust, which challenge common assumptions and reveal how trust actually works. You’ll discover why trust is continuous, contextual, personal, asymmetrical, transferrable, reciprocal, dynamic, and two-sided—and why understanding these laws is crucial for building trust with your customers.
Next week, we’ll dive into what specifically makes a customer trust you. But for now, let’s explore the fascinating ways trust behaves and why it’s not what you think.
In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter 6 of The Trust Premium—The Bottom-Line Impact of Trust Premium.
So far, we’ve discussed how trust drives revenue through higher pricing and customer preference. But what about profitability? Today, we’ll break down how trust doesn’t just boost your top line—it multiplies your bottom line. From increasing gross profit margins to lowering customer acquisition costs, we’ll quantify the real financial impact of trust on your business.
In the final part of Chapter 5, we explore how personal factors—such as customer knowledge, risk tolerance, fear, and trustfulness—affect the Trust Premium. Understanding these differences helps you identify and focus on customers who value trust the most. Plus, we recap the entire chapter and set the stage for next week’s discussion on how the Trust Premium impacts your bottom line.
Not all industries command the same Trust Premium. In this episode, I continue reading from The Trust Premium and explore why trust matters more in some industries than others. From painters to surgeons, financial advisors to insurance agents, I break down how factors like risk, complexity, and customer relationships shape the Trust Premium. Understanding these differences can help you position yourself where trust has the most value. Tune in to learn how industry context impacts trust-based pricing!
In this episode, I continue reading from my new book, The Trust Premium, sharing the first part of Chapter 5. This chapter explores how trust translates into both Trust Preference and Trust Premium, impacting customer decisions in different ways across industries. In this section, I define three key terms—Trust Preference, Trust Premium, and No-Trust Discount—and explain how they shape buying behavior. Join me as we break down the power of trust in sales and what it means for your business.
In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter 4 of The Trust Premium and diving into three deeply ingrained beliefs that shape our purchasing decisions: “You get what you paid for,” “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” and “If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.” Using real survey data, I’ll explore how these maxims influence our perception of price, value, and trustworthiness—and why people are willing to pay a premium when they trust the seller.
In this episode, I’m diving into Chapter 3 of The Trust Premium, exploring the purchase decision and what happens beyond it. Learn how perceived and actual price, value, and trust shape every transaction. From total cost of ownership to switching costs, I’ll unpack examples of how trust builds—or erodes—after the sale. We’ll also discuss the cycle of outbound transferrable trust from current customers to the inbound transferrable trust of future customers, showing why trust is vital not just for maintaining loyal customers in ongoing relationships, but also for attracting new customers in transactional sales.
This week, I’m reading chapters 1 and 2 of The Trust Premium. We’ll explore the transformation of sales, from in-person trust-based interactions to today’s unethical practices, criminal activities, and misuse of technology. I’ll discuss the decline in intimacy, ethical sales techniques, and how these have driven skepticism and plummeting sales success rates. The takeaway is clear: cold calls don’t work anymore. In today’s world, trust is your only true differentiator. Don’t miss this critical discussion!
In this episode, we dive into the introduction of The Trust Premium, exploring how trust influences buying decisions, loyalty, and pricing. Learn why customers are willing to pay nearly 40% more for trusted providers and how trust serves as the ultimate competitive advantage. Packed with anecdotes and research, this episode sets the stage for understanding the tangible power of trust in sales and professional relationships.
In this final episode of The Trust Show for 2024 and Season 15, I’m revisiting my roots in creativity and innovation research. I’m joined by Dr. Heather Hodges, a Dallas-based expert pursuing her second doctorate in creativity and innovation, as well as an Enneagram coach. Together, we explore why startups excel at innovation, how creativity ties into trust, and how personality insights from the Enneagram can shape leadership and teamwork. This episode is packed with stories, research, and actionable takeaways. Don’t miss this inspiring season finale!
Drones have been flying over New Jersey for weeks, sparking public fear and frustration. The government says it doesn’t know who’s operating them but insists there’s no reason for concern. In this episode, I break down the situation through the lens of trust—exploring why the government’s response feels contradictory, incompetent, or worse. From public safety risks to the erosion of trust, I uncover what this means for you, me, and the future of drone regulations.
In this episode of The Trust Show, I’m joined by my friend and renowned sales expert, Mark Hunter, also known as "The Sales Hunter." Mark and I dive into the critical role of trust in sales, exploring how the "trust premium" transforms prospecting success. We discuss why traditional cold calling is dead, how to build trust that precedes your reputation, and how delivering value can turn one sale into the next. Mark also shares strategies from his latest book, The Making of a Mind for Sales. Don’t miss it!
ChatGPT and similar tools are transforming how we interact with technology, making computer communication feel increasingly human. This echoes Alan Turing's 1950 Turing Test, which questions whether machines can exhibit behavior indistinguishable from humans. In this episode, we explore whether computers can fool us into believing they're human, whether we want them to, and the implications. I'm sharing a special recording from Perspectives Matter, the McCuistion TV program I host, where we delve into AI's impact on our perception of intelligence and humanity.
In this episode of The Trust Show, I sit down with Stu Schlackman, author of Sales Sagas, to explore the transformative power of relationship selling. Stu breaks down his framework of the four distinct customer types and explains why recognizing these types is key for any salesperson aiming to build strong, lasting relationships. Together, we dive into how the Trust Premium principles align with relationship selling, discussing how trust and adaptability can lead to sales success. Join us as we uncover how understanding customer personality and fostering trust can help sales professionals close deals more effectively—without relying on price alone.
In this episode of The Trust Show, I’m diving into how trust and entrepreneurship are not just connected—they’re inseparable. As someone who lives and breathes trust, and also teaches entrepreneurship, I’ve seen firsthand how essential trust is to building a successful business. I’ll walk you through why trust matters at every stage, from choosing co-founders and advisors to building relationships with customers and investors. If you’re starting or growing a business, join me to learn why trust might just be your biggest competitive advantage—and how to make it work for you.
In this episode, I explain why cold calls just don’t work anymore, with success rates dropping to as low as 1-3%. As scams and spam calls rise, trust has become more crucial than ever in sales. I break down the numbers and show you how focusing on building trust leads to better results and higher premiums. It’s time to shift from quantity to quality—learn how trust can transform your sales process and boost your success.
In this episode, I am joined by Dr. April Minatrea, a clinical psychologist specializing in leadership dynamics, to explore the concept of "leadership injuries"—the psychological and emotional damage caused by bad leadership. Together, they discuss how poor leadership erodes employee trustfulness, diminishes engagement, and harms organizational performance. Tune in to learn how these injuries manifest, the consequences for employees and companies alike, and what leaders can do to heal and prevent them, fostering a healthier, more trusting workplace culture.
In this episode of The Trust Show, I dive into how having a hobby can actually make you more trustworthy. I share personal stories about rediscovering my love for radio-controlled airplanes and how hobbies, even intense ones, help you relax, make you more relatable, and build stronger connections with others. Whether you’re trying to unwind or build trust in your personal and professional relationships, this episode explores the surprising benefits of making time for your passions. Tune in to learn why your hobbies are more valuable than you think!
In this episode of The Trust Show, I’m joined once again by Dr. Nanette Miner, leadership expert and founder of The Training Doctor. After our last conversation, I just had to bring Nanette back to dive deeper into a topic I’ve touched on before: our obsession with leadership. Together, we explore the question—is leadership a profession or a promotion? We talk about why we often promote the best performers without proper training and why leadership development should start on day one. Get ready for another insightful and messy conversation!
In this episode of The Trust Show, I step into some vulnerable territory by sharing anonymous reviews from my Rate My Professors page. As an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at SMU, I’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback, but today, I’m focusing on three harsh one-star reviews. I’m not here to complain, but rather to extract insights from these critiques. I explore eight key lessons about trust, anonymity, feedback, and even empathy. Join me as I unpack what we can all learn from criticism—both how it’s given and how we respond to it. Get ready for some raw honesty!
In this episode, we explore whether trust is based more on the effort someone puts in, the outcome of their actions, or their underlying motivation. We discuss insights from a recent survey that revealed surprising results, and dive into the complexities of trust in both personal and professional relationships. Joined by guest Dr. Nanette Miner, we introduce a fourth element—how the effort is made—and examine the ethical implications behind trust-building actions.
In this episode of The Trust Show, we explore how nonverbal communication—like tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language—affects our perceptions of trust. Often, we're influenced by our interpretation of these cues in other people, which can lead to misguided assumptions about the person in front of us. We'll discuss how first impressions, time, and intimacy shape trust and offer practical tips to avoid misjudgments based on nonverbal signals.
Ethics and Trust are often intertwined, one affecting the other. In May of this year, McCuistion TV aired a program about Corporate ethics. I was honored to be the host of that show. In fact, it was the first time hosting a “Perspectives Matters” program. With two guest experts, we addressed some very critical questions about corporate ethics. We contrasted ethics with the law, discussed Enron and Citigroup, and talked about the code of ethics versus ethical culture. We also discussed whether some companies develop a code of ethics just for show, and if so, how can you tell? It was a very interesting program, in my opinion, and with permission from McCuistion TV, I included the program's soundtrack here for you to enjoy.
In this episode, we explore the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in building trust. Discover how these motivations drive behavior and influence trustworthiness. We discuss why intrinsic motivation alone might not be enough, the power of extrinsic motivators in habit formation, and how to ensure you're motivated for the right reasons. Whether you're looking to build better habits or deepen trust in relationships, understanding motivation is key. Tune in to learn how to align your motivations with trust.
In this episode, I am joined by Suzanne Smith, the founder and CEO of Social Impact Architects, to discuss the critical role of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) in building trust. We delve into how companies can genuinely integrate these principles to enhance their societal and environmental impact. Suzanne shares insights on the importance of authenticity, transparency, and local engagement, offering practical examples and strategies for companies to balance profit with purpose in a trust-driven economy.
In this episode, we’ll dive into the critical question: "Can We Trust Technology?" Join me and my guest, Beth Ziesenis, "Your Nerdy Best Friend," as we dissect recent high-profile tech incidents, including the $54 billion CrowdStrike bug, the AT&T cyber attack affecting 107 million subscribers, and the cyber attack that crippled Dallas' emergency services. Explore the complexities of modern software, the rise of AI-driven cybercrime, and why bugs and cyber attacks have become the new normal. Discover why your trust in technology hinges on the companies behind it and how you are now the front line of defense.
As I continued my Trust Premium research, I recently added more professions, such as lawyers and accountants. But I also extended the Trust Premium model, and in this episode, I will share the findings for lawyers and accountants and the extended Trust Premium model.
In this episode, we move from theory to practice. Learn how to identify the highest trust premium in your industry and discover the behaviors you need to change to attract high-trust customers. We'll also explore strategies to retain existing customers, even against competitors offering discounts. Using W. Edward Deming's wisdom, "If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing," we'll outline a step-by-step process and introduce the Trust Habits method to build trustworthiness and maximize your trust premium. Tune in for practical steps to elevate your business's trust level and increase your Trust Premium.
The Trust Premium framework focuses on the value customers see in trusting the salesperson or professional, making them even willing to pay a higher price or fee. So, being trusted by the customer before purchasing is essential. Not only do customers buy from people they trust, but they are willing to pay that premium. But what happens after the purchase is done? It is imperative to maintain and grow trust after the purchase, whether you want them to make repeat purchases, even if this is a single purchase. In this episode, you will learn why.
Often, when you run your own business, you face the decision of doing something yourself or hiring someone to do it. It is not an easy decision. As a professional speaker, I face that decision on a weekly basis in different functions of my business. Over the years, I developed a three-step process to make those decisions: separate different functions, identify the alternatives for each one, and use criteria to make the decisions. In this episode, I will show you how.
Is it good to “Trust but verify?” When you verify, aren’t you showing that you don’t trust? In this episode, I will analyze this management approach. Does it really work? I found a 2004 research article that claimed that the more you verify, even in a high-trust self-managed team, the better the performance is. But I will also discuss what’s missing from that study, and will finally suggest that instead of “Trust but verify,” you should practice “Trust but specify.”
There are many benefits to being trusted. One condition to be trusted is to be trustworthy. It’s still not a guarantee that you will be trusted, but it’s a prerequisite. So, what makes you trustworthy? Over the years, I observed 8 laws of trust, and developed my 6-component relative trust model. Instead of talking about those, today, in this episode, I will talk about the 3 principles of trustworthiness, that are the basis for the relative trust model.
Who do you trust? In The Book of TRUST, I claimed that there are three entities you trust. You trust yourself, you trust God, and you trust other people. Trusting yourself is the one thing that determines your risk-tolerance level without having to trust anyone else. Trusting other people is what most of my work focuses on. But how about trusting God? Do we all trust God? Do we trust God to the same extent? To answer this question, I brought a guest to this episode. Mike Bronsky is a reverend. You will hear only a fraction of what I know about his life, and what made him a man of God. Mike is one of the only people in the world I know who has completely pure intentions. There are no games with him. He means what he says, and he says what he means. He takes a lot to heart. He helps other people as much as he can. He believes in God and helps others believe in God. So, I decided to ask him this question: do you trust God?
This episode will give answers to both questions. It starts with describing the connection between reward, risk, fear, and trust, explaining why we even need trust and how it plays a role in our willingness to take risks to get rewards. Later in the episode, I will provide my own definition of trust, breaking it down into its components. This episode incorporates findings from my recent study of our attitudes toward trust and risk-taking and identifies gender and age differences in those attitudes.
The foundation for the Trust Premium™ concept is that we pay first and get value later, and we must trust the salesperson or professional that they will provide value. The value is no less important than the price because of a few deeply ingrained beliefs such as "You get what you paid for," "There is no such thing as a free lunch," and "If something is too good to be true, it probably is," as they influence consumer behavior. I took those beliefs to the test through a study I conducted, and in this episode, I will provide the findings from that study and gender and age differences in these beliefs. Learn about the foundation and implications of the trust premium in today's market.
In this thought-provoking episode, we dive deep into the nuanced relationship between trust and respect. Exploring real-life scenarios and expert insights, we challenge conventional wisdom to uncover the intricate dynamics that govern our personal and professional relationships. Discover how trust and respect interact in complex ways, shaping how we connect with others, and reconsider the foundations of interpersonal relationships. This engaging discussion provides a fresh perspective on the critical elements that influence our interactions. Find out the answers to the questions: can you trust someone without respecting them, and can you respect someone and yet not trust them?
I am often asked, “What is unique and different about your approach to trust?” In this episode, I cover that unique approach to understanding trust, emphasizing its relative, reciprocal, and two-sided nature. I challenge the traditional view of trust as a universal and static attribute, illustrating instead how trust is a dynamic interplay that depends not only on the trustee's actions but also on the trustor's willingness to trust. This discussion sheds light on how personal experiences, cultural backgrounds, and individual perceptions influence establishing and maintaining trust across various relationships and situations.
Often viewed negatively, procrastination is typically associated with last-minute stress and missed deadlines. However, could there be positive aspects to this common habit? Join us as we explore both the potential downsides and the unexpected benefits of procrastination, and consider its impact on creativity, decision-making, and trust dynamics across our personal and professional lives. Tune in to challenge your perspectives on productivity and discover the complex role procrastination plays in how we trust.
Explore the intricate role of trust in consumer behavior in this podcast episode. Delve into why consumers often pay a "trust premium" for familiar brands, how trust influences purchasing decisions, and the psychological underpinnings of brand loyalty. Learn about the impact of trust on business success through expert analysis and case studies. Discover strategies businesses can use to build and maintain this crucial asset, enhancing their market presence and customer relationships.
Last Sunday on McCuistion TV, the second part of a series on lying aired on PBS/KERA Channel 13. Hosted by Jim Cathcart, the episode featured Prof. Christian Hart from Texas Woman's University and me. We discussed topics like cultural differences in lying, salespeople's honesty, the relationship between confidence and trust, and the consequences and detection of lying. The insightful episode is now available on my podcast, and on McCuistion TV: https://mccuistiontv.com/2024/04/why-people-lie-the-science-psychology-consequences-part-2-3018/. I encourage you to watch more McCuistion TV episodes at www.mccuistiontv.com.
The first episode I recorded for The Trust Show podcast was done almost three years ago and was titled “Does (Team) Size Matter (for TRUST)?”. In this episode, I revisited the topic of trust in teams because I get asked about it a lot. In this episode, I’ll talk about the importance of trust in a team. I’ll talk about team size. I’ll talk about building trust in a team and what to do when you have team members who cannot be trusted, at least not by the other members of the team.
In this episode, we dissect why cold calls fail—trust starts at zero. With scams rampant, we’re wary of unknown callers. Trust is key; it’s what drives purchases, even at a premium. But how do we gain trust from the start? Research helps, but it’s out of our hands. The answer? Referrals and transferable trust. Joining us is Bill Cates, referral expert, and author, to discuss his system used by thousands to secure quality clients. Tune in for insights on building trust and leveraging referrals for business success in a conversation about the power of trust.
Are you considering hiring a coach? The struggle is real! On one hand, a skilled and trustworthy coach can transform your life. But beware—the coaching landscape is teeming with imposters. Tune in as we dissect the chaos, revealing tools to spot genuine coaches who truly have your back. In this episode, I’ll guide you through identifying and screening a coach you can trust. Drawing from my 8 Laws of Trust and the 6-Component Relative Trust Model, we’ll separate the wheat from the chaff.
Today’s podcast episode delves into the intriguing world of bi-directional trust. Dispelling the myth of symmetrical and reciprocal trust, it reveals that trust is, in fact, asymmetrical. The 4th Law of trust highlights this fascinating phenomenon. Throughout the episode, I will explore why trust doesn’t always follow a straightforward give-and-take pattern. Furthermore, this episode sheds light on the implications of this asymmetry, especially when fostering trust within a team.
Join me in this episode as I explore the intricacies of trust, particularly its personal and relative nature. I challenge the myth of being trusted by everyone and pose the question: Can you truly be trusted by everyone? Spoiler alert: No. But fear not! I share practical insights on how to broaden your trustworthiness by showcasing different facets of yourself authentically. Discover how small behavioral adjustments can widen your circle of trust, empowering you to connect with a diverse range of individuals while staying true to who you are. Get ready to unlock the keys to expanding trust in your personal and professional life.
There is a “shortcut” that some people use to become “Amazon bestselling authors.” This practice is problematic and, in my opinion—unethical. I don’t believe those who do it are intentionally trying to mislead. I think they are caught by the “everybody is doing it” or misguided by someone who doesn’t care about the unethical consequences.
There is a lot of sarcasm in my tone of voice in this episode, and I come across as preachy. If you are someone who claims to be a bestselling author based on the process described in this episode, you may want to skip this episode altogether.
Either way, I didn’t record this episode to hurt anyone’s feelings.
Symmetry (including fairness) is a component of the “who you are” component group in my Relative Trust™ model. It is the situational component. It’s a given, but it causes us to trust (or distrust) people in a relationship simply based on where they are relative to us. To trust someone, you must be on the same side of “the wall.” There has to be an equal contribution level (from you and them to the organization) or distribution (from the organization to you and them). There has to be reciprocity between the two of you. This episode discusses the component of symmetry (and fairness) and its effect on trust.
When you fly, you must trust. As a passenger, you must trust the pilot, the plane, and the people who designed, built, maintained, tested, and certified the plane. You must trust God, the weather, birds, and other things outside human control. If you are the pilot, you must also trust yourself and the plane’s instruments. In this episode, I will apply my relative trust models and the laws of trust to three aviation crashes. I will use NTSB reports and demonstrate how trust (or distrust) played a role in each.
You thought ChatGPT was wild? Wait until you hear this episode. Initially, it includes a conversation I held with an artificial intelligence assistant. Not only will her tone of voice blow you away, but she actually has an accent… This episode will discuss the technology that enables artificial intelligence to be human-like. It will continue and discuss deep fake of both voice and image. While AI can be used for good, there are examples of how it’s used for evil, specifically for fraud and identity theft. Given the 8th law of trust (trust = trustworthiness x trustfulness) and the dramatic increase in AI fraus, we are less trustful. As a result, you can only compensate for that through increased trustworthiness. This also leads to some findings from my Trust Premium® research.
After one of my keynotes, someone approached me and asked me for advice. He described a toxic work environment within his team that he couldn’t stand anymore. Should he try to fix it with the team myself? Should he speak to his boss? Should he just leave? What should he do?
So, I gave him advice, and decided to share it with you here. No names. Just the advice. And, as you can imagine, the word TRUST came in several times.
So, how do you leave a toxic work environment while keeping your trust?
Politicians are among the most distrusted people. It didn’t use to be that way, but it is now. This episode will explain why we rank politicians’ trustworthiness so low using my Relative Trust™ model. The main reasons include the change in their behavior during primaries and after a party nominee was selected, the pledges they make that they know they can’t keep, the level of political polarization they exhibit, and how the means justify the end, and the procedural tactics they use to support party interests above the interests of the people who elected them, the American people. Is this really our fault? And how can we fix it?
Part of my Trust Premium research is more general and relates to our overall attitudes toward trust. In this episode, I will tell you what I found so far about the relationships between risk-taking attitude, perceptions of trustworthiness, willingness to start with trust, and our belief that “you get what you paid for.” Some of my findings are more obvious, while others are more surprising.
Time is one of the components of my relative trust model. But it has additional roles in trust. You’ve heard that “timing is everything” and that “the early bird gets the worm.” What happens when two peers in an organization cannot resolve a disagreement themselves and must go to the boss? Does it matter who gets to speak to the boss first? The short answer is that it does. In this episode, I will explain why the boss will likely trust the first employee to speak with them more than the second. This episode will also advise the two peers and the boss on building trust and resolving conflicts as best as possible.
Artificial Intelligence goes beyond ChatGPT and textual content generation. Today, it can generate lifelike videos of you. Deep fake is a bad usage of those, causing viewers to think they see one person when, in fact, they see a graphic generation of that person. But can it be used for good? We use “Mail Merge” features to customize emails, but how about increasing trust by increasing message intimacy through AI-rendered avatars? My guest in this episode is Jill Schifelbein, an innovative AI researcher, partner, and Chief Experience Officer at Render, a start-up specializing in producing hyper-realistic avatars. The episode starts with a demonstration of Jill as an AI avatar. We discussed one of the most critical implications: would you trust the avatar less than a person? And what if you didn’t know it was an avatar? If you want to watch the avatar used in this episode, watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8SS4Egjxdpw
This is not an episode about trust. Instead, I'm sharing why I don't do strategic planning in the last two weeks of the year. Companies often consider this time downtime because many people take this time off. But is it really the best time for strategic planning? Is there really something so magical about the end of the year and the beginning of the following year? In this episode, I’ll explain what I don’t do end-of-year strategic planning and what I do (and don’t do) instead.
Last week, we witnessed another example of the vicious cycle of hurtful actions (or words) and insincere apologies driven by the wrong reasons. This time, it was the congressional hearing about antisemitism with the presidents of three Ivy League universities and the “clarifications” (apologies?) that followed. In this episode, I will discuss this vicious cycle and how it’s related to trust.
There are two types of negotiations: win-win and zero-sum-game (or win-lose). You don’t need trust for the latter, but for win-win negotiations, you do. In this episode, I discuss the two types of negotiations and how trust helps reach the best outcome for both sides in win-win negotiations. It will use the relative trust model components such as personality compatibility, symmetry/fairness, positivity (empathy and NoBS), and time and intimacy.
S. Lewis said, "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” One of the components of my relative trust model, one of the components of the “what you do when you interact with me” group, is Positivity, specifically NoBS. One of the examples of NoBS I gave in The Book of TRUST is when you do something “for show.” When you do things just so that other people see. This correlates well with C.S. Lewis’ quote. But, if nobody knows that you do good things, they may not know you are someone they can trust. How do we resolve this paradox? In this episode, I’ll talk about the paradox and give you ideas on when to make things known to others to be trusted by them and when not to.
Previous episodes discussed the Trust Premium research, but in this episode, I want to explain how it can help you get more customers and get them to pay a premium for what they buy from you, whether it’s products or services. This is far from theoretical. This is how you apply the research. I will talk a bit about the research itself, but then the three steps of turning this research into a source of increased revenue and profit for you. The questions that will be answered are: What is the trust premium in my industry? Who are the customers willing to pay higher premiums for high trustworthiness? What is the premium that MY customers are willing to pay for my trustworthiness? What am I doing that prevents me from getting the maximum trust premium in my industry? How can I fix it?
A few years ago, I was asked, “why do you need to write another book about trust? What’s so special about it?” When I teach my students entrepreneurship, I tell them that the only way a new entrant to a market can succeed is by doing something different. Unique. And I live that advice. I wouldn’t have started pursuing the topic of trust if I didn’t have a unique approach to it. In this episode, I discuss what makes the Trust Habits® and Trust Premium™ unique, because they are.
An EFMD study found that leadership was the number one topic pursued by more than 90% of corporate buyers of education. Training Industry Inc. believes the leadership development industry is worth over $366 billion globally. SHRM found that 84% of companies rated leadership development as important or very important. We are obsessed with the word leadership, and this obsession has costs. I will share them in this episode and what I think we should do about it.
Today, 56.5% of emails are spam, for which 73% is identity theft, and 36% is marketing/advertising for things we don’t need. The U.S. alone generates 8.6b spam emails every day. You get those emails. Spam folders try to block most of them but occasionally allow false positives (credible emails that get caught up in spam folders) or false negatives (spam emails that pass through the filter) to go through. You are the last line of defense. How can you tell if an email is spam or not? In this podcast episode, using two of the 8 laws of trust and my 6-component relative trust model, I will demonstrate how I analyze an email to determine whether it’s spam or not.
The Trust Premium™ research shows that of all the behaviors that a financial advisor, or a professional in general, demonstrates that can affect the probability that a customer would hire their services or buy from them, the top one was the no-BS component, which received the highest score of 4.01 (on a scale of 1 to 5), and 65% of participants said that they would definitely or much more likely hire the services of an advisor who uses no BS in communicating with them. I don’t know about you, but I’m not surprised by this result. We are born with a sensitive BS detector, which improves over time. The surprising thing to me is that salespeople and other professionals believe they can BS their way to a deal, not realizing that BS causes them to lose the deal.
In this podcast episode, I will talk about some of the items I included in my research under the heading of “noBS,” and from The Book of TRUST, I will contrast BS with no-BS behaviors.
My new ground-breaking survey found that customers are willing to pay 41.0% higher fees when they work with a financial advisor they trust more than a financial advisor they trust less. That’s trust premium.
Last week, I received the first results from my first group of panel surveys, which I used to assess the trust premium of financial advisors. I chose financial advisors as the first group simply because, well, I have a friend who is a financial advisor…
In this episode, I will explain how the survey took place, some of the results from the study, and explain what’s next. A survey like that has never been done before, and the results are ground-breaking. I’m really excited about the work I’m doing on researching and affecting the Trust Premium for salespeople, service providers, and professionals in any industry.
While the Trust Premium™ research project is ongoing, it seemed like a good idea to interview the best salesperson I have ever worked with, which is precisely what this episode is about. Theresa Benson was the account manager for Apple (yes, that Apple) while we both worked at Texas Instruments. From the first time I met her, it struck me how the Apple iPod team trusted her. It wasn’t until this interview that I realized she probably tripled or even quadrupled my business unit’s profitability simply by being trusted by that Apple team.
In this episode, I'm excited to introduce a game-changing project: Trust Premium. Traditional sales methods no longer cut it in a world saturated with spam and cookie-cutter sales techniques. Customers now buy from people they trust. Period.
My initial research revealed that customers are even willing to pay a premium of nearly 30% for trust. Imagine increasing your prices by this amount without changing your cost structure—resulting in a remarkable 150% boost in net profit.
This isn't just theory; it's a practical solution. I've launched a research project that includes tools, assessments, training, and a fresh approach to building customer trust. And it was never done before. I checked.
In this episode, I’ll tell you all about it. And it’s exciting. Trust me.
Recently, I was invited many times to deliver keynotes on the topic of ethics, and specifically my take on the relationships between laws, ethics, values, and trust. Season 9, episode 10 covered the issue, but since then, I had an opportunity to continue and evolve my take on this topic enough to warrant an episode revisiting it. In fact, this is a keynote I’m about to give in three days. In this episode I discussed: (1) the practice of getting the Amazon “bestselling author” designation, and why you should not to it, (2) the ethical bar and the legal bar, and the relationship between them, (3) the erosion of the ethical bar, and finally, (4) how can we stop this erosion.
I truly believe that the HR department is ideally positioned to build trust in the company. I really do. But the first step for HR to be building trust in the organization is for HR to be trusted by the employees. Unfortunately, they are not. A study showed that 75% of employees don’t trust that their HR leader cares about their needs , and only 9% felt their HR leader would advocate for them, while 37% felt HR was more concerned about advocating for the organization.
But why is that? It’s simple: the employees don’t hire, fire, or pay the salaries of HR employees. Management does, and management is more concerned with legal compliance in the employment area than building trust.
And why is that? What if I told you that we have a culture of litigation in whish 2.3% of our GDP is spent on civil litigation, and that the top litigation area is employment?
But what if I told you that this culture of litigation is caused by a single event that happened one night, just over 50 years ago? That question gave me my first TEDx talk in 2018, and after the first part of this podcast episode, I included that entire TEDx talk. The link to the actual TEDx talk video: https://www.ted.com/talks/yoram_solomon_the_day_that_forever_changed_american_culture_yoram_solomon_tedxoaklawn
When I delivered a keynote about building trust in remote and hybrid work scenarios, I said, “if you can’t trust your employees to work from home, unsupervised, you have the wrong employees.” Someone then asked me, “how do you hire trustworthy employees?”
When we interview employees, we typically focus on their technical and professional capabilities. Those fall into the “competence” component of trustworthiness. But it’s not enough. Sometimes, we add some of the “soft skills,” but we are often not trained enough to assess those.
Rarely, if ever, do we do anything to answer the question: is this a trustworthy employee? This episode will address: (1) Before starting the interview process, (2) Prework, addressing the “who you are?” (3) First impression, (4) The interview itself, and (5) The relativity of trust—why it’s important to have a team interview.
Do Blue Angels pilots have a death wish when they fly a 30,000-pound jet at 400+ mph and keep 12” from wingtip to canopy? Not really. Are they not afraid? What is the level of trust required to do all of that? Should there be a sign on the wingtip missile rail that says “if you can read this, you are too close?” In this episode, my guest is Scott “Intake” Kartvedt. He flew with the Navy Blue Angels demonstration team, then he flew F35s, and for quite a few years, he has been flying with a civilian Jet team, the Patriots, flying L39s. Oh, and I should mention that he flew planes when shooting the movie Top Gun Maverick and trained the actor in acting while flying in a fighter jet.
Intake will share how trust gets built in a high-performance, high-risk jet aerobatic team and some fun stories from his experience.
Several things happened to me lately that made me focus on one of the branches of that work. At a conference I was speaking at, senior executives approached me and said, “That’s all great, but can we sell more with trust?” To me, the answer was clear, “of course you can! And not only can you sell more with trust, but you can even command higher prices with trust and increase customer loyalty!” Actually, the first book I wrote that had the word “trust” in its title, the first one in the series “Can I TRUST You?” had the subtitle “50+1 habits that will make you a trustworthy salesperson.” The other thing that happened was that within days, Thinkers 360 named me one of the top 50 (actually, #12) global thought leaders on trust AND one of the top 50 (number 17) on customer loyalty for 2023. And the last thing that happened was that I saw a significant increase in demand for one of my keynotes: win with trust, not low price: how to sell more, raise prices, and increase loyalty.
So, in this episode, I will start with some of the higher-level, more strategic perspectives on why trust is so important for sales. In later episodes, I will go “down and dirty” into specific tips about being a more trusted salesperson.
When talking about trust, I typically talk about people trusting people. But in this episode, I’ll talk about trust between people and horses, and not only that, but actually what we can learn from this relationship about trust between people. My guest today is Addison Gagliano. She trains kids to ride and horses to be ridden. She teaches the horse to listen to and trust people. We recorded this episode right after Addison gave me a demonstration of her techniques, and I can tell you that it was impressive. At the end of the interview, she told me that learning how to read horses helped her learn how to read people better. Better than many of us.
There was one more thing I needed to say about her… What was it?... Oh, now I remember. Addison is 15 years old.
Sometimes a candidate would have a gap in their resume. A few years that are accounted for. There could be many reasons for that gap. Should a hiring manager ask about it? It is none of their business? This episode gives advice to both a hiring manager and to a candidate on how to address that resume gap in a way that builds trust, and doesn't kill it. And it uses my relative trust model.
I applied my relative trust model and trust habit process to many different jobs, roles, and relationships, but somehow I never applied it to my own profession: public speaking. In 2020, I gave a speech at the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) annual conference. When I prepared for that, I found a few interesting things: one, I found a CNBC article that, based on a survey, found that the 6th most stressful job in America is an event coordinator. Two, I conducted my own survey and asked what is the biggest concern for event planners. At the top place, with a significant distance from the second place, was “dependency on other people.” Think about an event planner. Planning an event for 5,000 people (I spoke at events like that). The speaker doesn’t show up. Or delivers less than the 5,000 participants expected, and they keep talking about how the keynote speaker bombed. Do you want to be that event planner? Event planners have to trust the speakers. How can we, professional speakers, help them trust us? That’s what I will cover in this episode.
You are influenced only by people you trust, and you can influence only people who trust you. When you don’t try to build trust, you will not be able to influence. Or be influenced. This episode discusses the link between trust and influence. It will explain why the political divide we have today prevents us from reaching win-win compromises and how to bridge it using the components of the relative trust model.
Are you a procrastinator? If you are, wasn’t your first reaction to be defensive? Procrastination has a bad reputation. You can find countless articles about how NOT to be a procrastinator. How to eliminate procrastination. Even how to cure it. As if procrastination is a disease. I’m a procrastinator and will wear that as a badge of honor. And not because I feel the need to be politically correct. If you know me well enough, you know there is a fat chance of that… It’s because I believe procrastination is good! But for the right people and in the appropriate circumstances. But there is a problem still. A trust problem. With non-procrastinators. Because non-procrastinators don’t trust procrastinators. In this article/episode, I will discuss the good and the bad of procrastination, explain why non-procrastinators don’t trust procrastinators, but most importantly—I will give you 8 tips that will help you, a procrastinator, be trusted by non-procrastinators.
What percentage of calls or emails you get are spam? Don’t bother checking. As of January 2023, the US received the highest number of spam emails, at 8.6 billion daily. Spam accounts for 71% of all emails. A typical American gets 28.4 spam calls monthly. I must be getting more than that. These numbers are continuously increasing.
Since the level of trust I have in people trying to sell me something is the product of my trustfulness (my willingness to trust salespeople in general) and the salesperson’s trustworthiness, and my trustfulness continues to decline, the only way to be able to close deals is if you increase your trustworthiness.
Stop trying to close deals by lowering the price. Try doing it by increasing your trustworthiness.
In this episode, I will give you 7 tips on how to be a more trusted salesperson. Those are not the usual tips you might get from a sales trainer or expert. But those relate specifically to building trust in you.
If there is one shift in how we work that resulted from the COVID pandemic, it’s that we embraced the possibility of working remotely or hybrid, where some work is done remotely and some at the office. I visited that topic in season 8, episode 5 of this podcast, but it has been 6 months since then, and I learned and thought more about it.
Obviously, the first question that comes to mind is what remote or hybrid work does to productivity. Obviously, if it hurts productivity, we shouldn’t embrace it. At the same time, if it increases productivity, we certainly should. Looking at research revealed results in both directions, which is troubling by itself and caused me to wonder how accurate and free of confirmation bias that research is. But the most revealing study was one done by Microsoft in late 2022. When asked whether remote work increases productivity, 87% of EMPLOYEES said it did, but only 12% of LEADERS agreed. So, I guess it depends on who you ask…
Working remotely also has trust implications. It relies on trust, but it also affects trust.
The purpose of this episode is not to prove whether remote or hybrid work increases productivity or not or even to prove the relationships with trust. It’s to give 8 specific pieces of advice on how to maintain and even grow trust while working remotely or hybrid.
Body language, or non-verbal communication, plays a major role in building trust. That’s why the component of intimacy accelerates positivity. As long as our body language is consistent with the words we use, people trust us. On the opposite side, as Albert Mehrabian said in his 1971 book Silent Messages, “When our words contradict the silent messages contained within them, others mistrust what we say.” So, it could accelerate trust but also prevent trust.
This episode is one of those episodes in which I bring a guest who know and who cares. Today, I have Melinda Marcus, an expert and consultant on influence and nonverbal communication. We will talk about how much control we have over our body language and how good are we at interpreting it. We will talk about the relationship between working remotely, body language, and, of course, trust. We are going to have a great conversation about body language and trust. (as well as other things).
My framework for Trust Habits® includes the 8 laws of trust and the 6-component relative trust model. But from them, there are 7 insights about trust, which are shared in some detail here in this episode. Those are:
(1) Trust turns a group of creative and productive individuals into a creative and productive team. (2) Trust is Relative. The same behavior that would cause one person to trust you could cause another to distrust you. (3) My trust in you is the product of my trustfulness (willingness to trust people) and your trustworthiness. (4) Your trustworthiness is made of who you are and what you do when you interact with me (5) If you trust someone, and you show them that you trust them, they will behave in a trustworthy way. (6) If you eliminate one bad behavior, you will increase your trustworthiness more than if you add one good behavior. (7) Forming a habit takes as long as it takes until it is easier to continue than to stop it, and you don’t need extrinsic motivation anymore.
Do you want to be trusted by everyone? Do you think you CAN be trusted by everyone?
If so, I’ve got some bad news for you. You won’t.
Trust is relative. The same behaviors that would cause one person to trust you could cause another person to distrust you.
In one of my surveys, I found that one of the biggest correlations to the level of trust others have in you is with the level to which you share values with them.
In this episode, I will elaborate on the topic, and specifically the relationship between laws, ethics, values, and trust.
And let me start you think about this question: what do you call the behaviors that are above the legal bar, but below the ethical bar?
You may know that I was (still am) a serial entrepreneur. You may not know that I was one of the founding members of the North Texas Angel (investor) Network, and made investments in startup companies. Startup companies heavily depend on investments from Angel investors. But investing in a company in such an early stage is a high-risk proposition. You may lose your entire investment.
Trust plays a major role in making that investment decision.
In this episode, I am happy to introduce a friend of mine, one of the early members of the North Texas Angel Network, a serial entrepreneur himself, and a serial angel investor, Jim Fontaine.
Together, we will discuss how angel investors decide if they trust the entrepreneur enough to invest in their startup company in such an early, risky stage.
Building trust will transform organizations and relationships. But to build trust, you must first change behaviors. Changing behaviors requires you to form new habits. But forming new habits is hard. Very hard. It takes significant effort, and to do that, you must have enough, and the right kind of motivation.
My work on trust resides in the intersection of the science of trust and the science of forming habits. In most of the episodes of this podcast, I talk about the why and the what. Why is trust important? What is trust? What makes one person decide to trust (or distrust) another person?
But that’s not enough. If I told you exactly what you must do to be trusted by another person, does that mean you can do it? Knowledge is not enough. You need motivation.
In this episode, I will talk more about finding the motivation to form new habits that will change old behaviors. I will talk about motivation in general. To do anything.
Are you thinking about delivering a TEDx talk?
You may know that I delivered my 3rd TEDx talk a few weeks ago at TEDxJCU at John Carroll University in Cleveland. After delivering it, a few friends asked me for advice about how I found those events, how I got selected, and more.
Instead of repeating the same information over and over again with every friend, I decided to hold a live webinar, which I did on May 9th, but I also recorded it.
I thought you might be interested in listening to it, so I’m including it here in this episode. I covered why did I want to give a TEDx talk? How did I decide on a topic? How did I find them (or they found me)? How did I apply (and get accepted)? How did I prepare and deliver? What went wrong… and finally, what happened afterward?
One of the HR functions is to care for the employee's welfare, and some would say that it's the most critical function. Given the impact of engaged employees on the organization's success, you couldn't argue with that. However, a 2022 Crucial Learning survey showed that 75% of employees don't trust that their HR leader cares about their needs. Only 9% felt that their HR leader would advocate for them, and 47% didn't feel safe confiding in or getting assistance from the HR leader. The HR professional is ideally positioned to build trust in the organization, but they can't do that if they are not first trusted by the people they should be helping.
This episode is a conversation with Fiona Passantino, a former HR professional, and a current speaker, blogger, author, and generally an expert on employee engagement, workplace culture, and internal communications. We discuss why HR is not trusted as much as it should be, what are the symptoms of HR not being trusted, and what they can do to be trusted.
This is the fourth and last episode of this series under the title how you can tell if you can (or should) trust another person. In the previous episodes, I gave you tools, based on what you know about the other person before you ever meet and interact with them, and based on your firsthand impression while interacting with them. Now, based on all that, you need to decide whether you can trust them, and, more importantly, whether you should trust them.
There is one last thing I want you to think about—whether you should trust them more, or less, than the level of trustworthiness you determined they have.
This is the third of a four-episode series addressing how you can tell if you can, and should, trust someone, in whatever relationship you are with them. In the first episode, I explained that you need first to decide what you need to trust them with, and how much you need to trust them, because trust is contextual and continuous. In the second episode, I explained how you could tell if you can trust someone based on who they are, and the components of competence, personality compatibility, and symmetry. This is how you can tell if you can trust them before you ever meet them for the first time.
The decision to trust is based on the components of my relative trust model. It has 6 components in two groups. One group includes the who they are components of competence, personality compatibility, and symmetry. The second group includes the what they do during an interaction with you, and is more of a firsthand experience you have with them, and your judgment, or gut feeling of them.
In this episode, I will cover the what they do components, and how you can improve your accuracy in predicting if you can trust the other person based on them.
This is the second of a four-episode series addressing how you can tell if you can, and should, trust someone, in whatever relationship you are with them. In the first episode, I explained that you need to first decide what you need to trust them with, and how much you need to trust them, because trust is contextual and continuous.
The decision to trust is based on the components of my relative trust model. It has 6 components in two groups. One group includes the who they are components of competence, personality compatibility, and symmetry. The second group includes the what they do during an interaction with you, and is more of a firsthand experience you have with them, and your judgement, or gut feeling of them.
In this episode, I will cover the who they are components, and how you can improve your accuracy in predicting if you can trust the other person based on them.
It is very important to know who you can trust. Trusting someone you should trust is the best. Not trusting someone you shouldn’t trust is, well a waste of time. Not trusting someone you should trust is causing damage to you, to them, and to the organization. But trusting someone you shouldn’t trust is, well, right down dangerous and could have devastating consequences.
So, how do you decide if you can trust someone or not? This is the first of a four-episode mini-series. In this series I will break down the process of determining just that. I’m going to give you a science-based, pragmatic, intentional, and very prescriptive way to tell if you can trust someone, in what, and how much. Because trust is relative. I will use the 8 laws of trust and the 6 components of my relative trust model.
I will show you how to determine the level of trust you should have in another person based on who they are, and what they do. And if you think that your gut has nothing to do with it—you’re wrong. It is, and I’ll show you how to train your gut to tell you if you can trust someone or not.
The first episode of the series covers why you care about trusting someone else, and several considerations about trust.
My work in The Book of Trust, The Trust Show, the Trust Habits workshops, my keynotes, and almost everything I do revolves around how to be more trusted. But, how do you know if you are trusted or not? Most people will not simply tell you that they don’t trust you. The main reason is that they don’t trust your reaction when they say that. But those may be people you really want, or need, to be trusted by, so you want to know. In this episode, I will show you how to tell if you are trusted or not.
This episode is the second part of a two-part series. The first part (the previous episode) explained what strategy is, and the first two steps: determining where you are, and where you want to go. This second part episode will cover the next 5 steps: determining the boundaries for the strategy, developing a simple-rules strategy, executing the strategy, telling when you arrived at your destination, and handling detours.
The Human Resources function, and the Human Resources department, like any other department or business unit within the company, is a business. It’s a business that deals with the most important part of the company: its people. It’s not a profit center for the company, at least not a direct one. At the same time, not all departments in the company generate profits. But just like any other business, it must have a strategy. Otherwise, it will just be pulled in multiple different directions, and be unproductive and ineffective.
This episode is the first part of a two-part series in which I will adapt my strategy development process to the Human Resources department. The analogy that I use when facilitating strategy workshops is the GPS navigation system in your car, and I will start by defining what strategy is.
It seems we are always in election season. We just had the mid-term elections in November, we are about to enter local elections in Texas for city councils, school district boards, community college boards, and more. Soon we will start the primaries, then the presidential elections. We’re always in election season. But how do you decide who to vote for? I will assume that you only vote for candidates you can trust, but what makes you think you can trust them? The answer to this question varies and may surprise you.
... And then, Chris Rock points to Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife, and says “Jada, I love you, GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.” The audience laughs (maybe uncomfortably, but maybe not). The camera turns to Will Smith and his wife. He is laughing, but she is rolling her eyes. It takes 12 more seconds before Will Smith shows up on the stage and slaps Chris Rock in the face.
This episode is not about whether Rock had crossed the line with his comment, insensitive to Jada’s medical condition that led to her bold head. It’s not about whether Will Smith should have addressed this differently.
It’s about the 12 seconds between the moment Smith was laughing and the moment he was slapping Chris Rock. It’s about when funny becomes not funny anymore, and, obviously, how trust plays into it.
Employee engagement is essential to companies. It affects many things in the company culture as well as company performance. But it has also declined in the past several years. Because of that, many companies conduct employee engagement surveys. However, before you set off to conduct an employee engagement survey, there are a few things I want you to know and consider, because you may end up not really hearing what you need to hear, but rather only what you want to hear, and because you might do more harm than good with those surveys. I’ll explain, with examples and research data, and at the end, I’ll tell you what I think you should do to keep employee engagement high. Because, after all, that’s your goal. Right? And yes, it has everything to do with trust.
This is part 2 of this two-part episode.
Employee engagement is essential to companies. It affects many things in the company culture as well as company performance. But it has also declined in the past several years. Because of that, many companies conduct employee engagement surveys. However, before you set off to conduct an employee engagement survey, there are a few things I want you to know and consider, because you may end up not really hearing what you need to hear, but rather only what you want to hear, and because you might do more harm than good with those surveys. I’ll explain, with examples and research data, and at the end, I’ll tell you what I think you should do to keep employee engagement high. Because, after all, that’s your goal. Right? And yes, it has everything to do with trust.
This is part 1 of this two-part episode.
Customers are willing to pay a 30% premium when they buy from companies they trust. With the continuously increasing new customer acquisition cost, keeping loyal customers has significant financial value to the company. Customers are loyal when they trust the company, and not only loyal—they recommend the company to other customers. There are five variables that have a significant impact on the trust that customers have in the company, and on its profitability. It starts with the company costs, and continues through the perceived price the customers believe they will pay and the value they believe they will get, and ends with the actual price the customers realize they had to pay, and the value they actually got. In this episode, I will analyze the relationships between those variables that make customers trust the company, and make the company profitable.
In this episode, I’m revisiting the topic of episode 11 in the 5th season. I brought this topic in the entrepreneurship class I teach at SMU, and gave my students the opportunity to reflect on it. Their comments helped me improve my own thoughts about the topic.
ChatGPT took the world by storm. Then, one day, I was asked this question: how could you tell, as a college professor, if your students are cheating by using ChatGPT, and how would you be able to prevent it? I can’t tell you how many different thoughts came to mind simultaneously. I decided to conduct a LinkedIn poll and ask people in the education field what they thought of ChatGPT in the classroom, specifically the college classroom. This two-part podcast episode will give you my position on the issue.
This is the second part of this episode, and will focus more on the educational aspects of the question. It will start with a discussion of cheating, the purpose of education, ChatGPT versus Bloom’s Taxonomy, and finally, give my position on whether we should encourage, allow, discourage, or ban the use of ChatGPT in the classroom. The episode will end with the opportunity I see for education stemming from using ChatGPT.
ChatGPT took the world by storm. Then, one day, I was asked this question: how could you tell, as a college professor, if your students are cheating by using ChatGPT, and how would you be able to prevent it? I can’t tell you how many different thoughts came to mind simultaneously. I decided to conduct a LinkedIn poll and ask people in the education field what they thought of ChatGPT in the classroom, specifically the college classroom. This two-part podcast episode will give you my position on the issue. This is the first part of this episode, in which I discuss ChatGPT in general, the insights I got from the LinkedIn poll I conducted, and our approach (and sometimes fear) to adopting new technologies.
We didn’t ask for the COVID-19 pandemic. We didn’t ask to work from home. But, in March 2020, it was forced upon us. At the time, it didn’t look like there was going to be an end to it, and that this was becoming “the new normal.” We are now out of the pandemic. Many companies have gone back to work at the office, but we also learned the benefits from working from home, both for the company and its employees. Should we go back to the office full-time? Should we work remotely full-time? Should we deploy a hybrid mode? And, in the context of this podcast, should you trust employees who work from home? Or, even better, what can you do so you could trust them?
You have heard the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, more recently, chat GPT. The simplest definition of AI is “the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn.” Chat GPT is “a large, pre-trained language model developed by OpenAI. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture, which uses deep learning techniques to process and generate natural language.” In this podcast episode, I will give examples of what chat GPT does, but also discuss AI at a higher level, and, most importantly (and somewhat obviously)—how it affects trust, and what to do to ensure it doesn’t cause people to distrust you.
Last week we witnessed the process of selecting the house speaker in the U.S. Congress. This position is the second in order of succession for the Presidency. I’m not going to offer any political commentary except to say one thing. The process was not a consensus focus, trying to get as many supporters out of the entire house with its 435 members, but rather to get to 218. Just enough to be more than 50%. We know that our political divide is only growing and becoming worse, but this is not the topic of this podcast episode. The topic is decision-making, and the relationships it has with trust. This episode will discuss three decision-making processes (consultative, majority, and consensus) and their relationships with trust.
If you work in a company with more than 10 employees, you did. If you worked in a company with functional units with more than one person in each, you did. If you work in a company with multiple business units, you did. In this episode, I will explain what are the negative consequences of those silos, what causes them, and how to break silos down. Obviously, it is all about trust.
This episode will answer one simple question: what do I have to do this year to move the needle (upward) on the level of trust in my organization? Over the years, I have developed a process, which this year will be complete. It is made of four phases: launching the process (showing that the company is committed to building trust), helping the HR department (or whoever will champion the process) be more trusted by the organization, training them on how to help others (through a 3-day masterclass), and then launching a company-wide effort, with support.
This episode will also finally tie my own personal-professional efforts and plan to put all those pieces in place, and the status of them.
It’s just about that time, and you are starting to think about your new year’s resolutions. You are ready to make the commitment, but you might also be ready to give it up by the end of January. The reason you are not sticking with a resolution is that you are not trying to form a new habit that will allow you to achieve that resolution. “Losing 10 pounds” is not enough. Developing the right habits that will cause you to lose those 10 pounds is.
While the framework of this episode was taken from the Trust Habits™ process of forming trustworthiness habits, it still applies to forming any habit for any purpose. This episode will simply give you a comprehensive set of tools to form habits that will help you achieve your new year’s resolutions.
Trust is important everywhere and in every relationship, personal and professional. Still, I’ll admit that most questions and requests I get about trust are in the organizational setting. Most of the keynotes and workshops I delivered were to organizations, mainly companies, worried about the low levels of trust they experience. Trust is needed in every organization, but it is needed in multiple places and for multiple reasons. Much research was done about the benefits of high trust to the organization, whether to the employees, teams within the company, or company outcomes. But that trust is needed everywhere in the organization, and not just in one relationship. This episode addresses all the areas in the organization where trust is needed and why it is important in each one.
American Corporate Culture is obsessed with leadership. Everyone simply must be a leader. If you are not striving to become a leader, then something must be wrong with you. Even if you are not a leader, not in a leadership position, we will redefine the word leader to claim that you are, in fact, a leader. Just so that you feel good.
This episode will first address the reasons we are obsessed with leadership, and then the four costs of this obsession. Some of those costs are to the level of trust in the organization, and some of them are a result of the level of trust.
Finally, it will show what we can do about it.
Every year at this time, you are looking towards the next year, setting your priorities. This year, focus on building your trustworthiness. The more trustworthy you are, the more people will trust you, and the more you will enjoy your work and professional life. Being trusted is a great feeling. And all it takes is forming one new habit that will eliminate one old behavior that is holding you back from being more trusted. It's not enough to know what you must change, you need to know how. This episode, based on The Book of Trust, will show you why it is so important for you to be more trusted, and how to use the Trust Habits process to achieve that.
The common wisdom is that communication is one of the foundations or pillars of trust. But the relationship between trust and communication is actually reciprocal. On one hand, we tend to trust people who communicate with us with transparency. Who tells us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? We trust people who tell us what we need to hear, and not necessarily what they think we want to hear. But on the other hand: would you be willing to share confidential information with someone you don’t trust? Would you be willing to be vulnerable with someone you don’t trust? Would you feel comfortable giving direct feedback to someone when you don’t know (or trust) how they will take it? And will you accept that kind of feedback from someone whom you don’t trust to have your best interests in mind?
This episode will address that relationship in greater detail.
I know that today’s episode will sound a little bit like a commercial, and to some extent, it is, but I would still encourage you to listen to it because it is a commercial for something you might be interested in. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t even be developing this program (this is my most extensive program yet) if I didn’t think you would get a lot of value from it. I’m doing it now, because the first masterclass will take place pretty soon, on January 25-27, in Dallas.
I’m not going to make any sales pitches here, I’m not going to put pressure because space is limited, I’m not going to give you a special price that expires in 24 hours, and I’m not going to give you any money-back guarantee or special bonuses if you sign up in the next 24 hours. I’m not even going to tell you the price, but I’ll tell you where to find more information, brochure, videos, and more.
I really just want to tell you about this program, and actually, start with why. Why did I decide to build this program, and how did the relationship with my partner, DallasHR started.
Do you talk about your salary with coworkers? Is it OK to discuss salary? A survey shows that 42% of Gen-Z employees will share salary information with a coworker (compared to 19% of Baby Boomers). Another survey shows that 63% of employees prefer to work at a company that discloses pay information, but only 19% of the companies do that. This episode will answer a few questions: can you keep salaries a secret? And more importantly: what does it do to trust? (employees' trust in the company and their trust in each other). Finally, what should you do about it?
In my 2018 survey, I asked about, among other types of roles, the most important quality you have in a salesperson trying to sell you something. Trustworthiness was the most important quality in salespeople 76.7% of the time, more than in any of the five other relationships and roles (the average was 61.2%). But, I never asked about the trustworthiness of the customer. Should you, as a customer, be trustworthy or care about being trusted by salespeople? What is it that you need to be trusted at? What is the risk to you if you are not trusted? And how does this spill over to other customers?
Can you trust a competitor? Should you trust a competitor? And where does antitrust comes into play? Trusting a competitor can be tricky because of the Symmetry component of the relative trustworthiness model. Competitors, by definition, are on opposite sides of the wall. However, at times, they are not. Those times could lead to behaviors that hurt the public and are prohibited by antitrust laws, but also to growing a market, sharing best principles, and other activities that serve the public good. How can you tell?
This is the third part in the two-part episode(s) that opened this season. The relative trustworthiness model and the 8 laws of trust apply to every relationship, and in this episode, completely disconnected from the 10 causes for divorce cited in the previous two episodes, the model will be applied to why some marriages last, and some end up in divorce. It all has to do with risk, fear, trust, safety, and danger. The episode concludes with some advice for couples considering getting married on how to assure the beginning of a happy and sustainable marriage.
This is the second of a two-part mini-series about the relationship between trust, distrust, and divorce. This episode will cover unrealistic expectations, lack of intimacy, lack of equality, being unprepared for marriage, and physical and emotional abuse. Each one will be linked to a component of the relative trust model.
A recent article cited the top ten reasons for divorce (it is estimated that 50% of U.S. marriages end in divorce). Personally, I believe that all divorces are really caused by one reason: a decline in trust below the level required to sustain the marriage. This is the first episode in a two-part mini-series about the link between trust and divorce. In this episode, I will discuss infidelity, financial trouble, lack of communication, constant arguing, and weight gain. This episode will show the relationship between each one of those and the components of the relative trust model.
This is the 66th episode of this podcast, and every now and then I will repeat something I discussed in a previous episode for several reasons. One is that it has been a long time since I discussed the topic, and it’s important enough to discuss again, but the other is that my thinking is evolving, after applying the Trust Habits model and process to many organizations and individuals, and I want to share my latest thinking about a topic. So, today I will touch on a topic that I discussed in episode 6 of the first season, in June of last year: The relationship between micromanagement and trust, and give leaders actionable advice, some of which is not the advice you would expect, or want to hear.
This is the second part of a two-part episode explaining how a person considers whether to trust you more, less, or the same as a result of you telling them a white lie or only half the truth. This episode includes a model with five factors that affect that decision, and a few additional examples of how that model can be applied.
When is it OK to tell a white lie or only half truth? Many people asked this question will give a definite answer, many of whom will say “never” or “always.” But the reality is that it depends on how the person you are telling that half-truth or white lie to considers it. This is the first part of a two-part episode on how the trust that the other person has in you will change as a result, because trust is relative and personal.
Over the past 14 years, I observed 8 laws of trust. The last one is that trust is a two-person game. The level of trust someone has in you is the product of their trustability (their willingness to trust other people) and your trustworthiness. You can do almost nothing about the former, and everything you can do about the latter—your trustworthiness. So, the starting point in building trust in an organization, or any relationship, is to build your trustworthiness. And the first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. To build trust, we must, therefore, first assess trustworthiness. I looked up tools to assess trustworthiness, but I’m afraid that, given the 8 laws of trust, and mainly the fact that trust is relative, those tools won’t work. In this episode, I will explain why an existing off-the-shelf trustworthiness assessment will not work but also describe how you should assess trust.
Did you ever have a situation when the team doesn’t trust one of its members? This episode will discuss first why it happens, what the impact it has on team performance, and what can you do about it, all the way to the dreaded decision of removing this member from the team, but with several other alternatives before it gets to that.
Being in a conflict of interests is not a trust issue. How you handle it is. This episode will explain what conflict of interest is, how it relates to trust, how the way you are handling it will affect your trustworthiness, and how to handle it to increase your trustworthiness.
A 2020 article claimed that 70% of business partnerships fail. Different reasons are given, but the main one is that trust breaks down. A business partnership is an intense environment to test trust. Unfortunately, so many of us enter business partnerships without first thoroughly analyzing whether we should trust our new partner, and don't build the relationship in a way that will build trust. Often, there are severe consequences to the breakdown of that trust, both financially and emotionally. This episode addresses the relationship between trust and partnerships, how you can determine whether you can trust your partner, and how to build trust into a business partnership from the beginning (hint: it's not the contract you put in place).
This episode revisits the content of the second episode of the third season. I learned a lot more, and continued to evolve the mathematical model of that reciprocal relationship between trust and trustworthiness that emanates from the sixth law of trust (trust is reciprocal). Leaders often, yet unintentionally, kill their employees trustworthiness. This episode will explain how it happens, and why. Finally, at the end, you will get some advice on how to reverse this trend. How to start with TRUST, and why it's so hard.
Most trust-building frameworks about leaders focus on how the leader can become more trusted—a trusted leader. There is no doubt that if, as a leader, you wish to build trust in the organization, you must first be trusted by the people in that organization. The Trust Habits framework focuses on trustworthiness, and is a highly structured and prescriptive process that combines the science of trust and the science of habit forming. It has 3 layers: motivation, understanding, and application (becoming more trusted). As a leader, you may be interested in the 4th layer: coaching others through the Trust Habits process. This episode will cover that.
I often get asked the question: why is trust, really? It's hard to rely on dictionary definitions to give a thoughtful answer. This episode will answer the question by answering another question: why do we trust? In this episode, you will learn that we trust, in the most simplistic way, because we want to get a reward while feeling safe. You will learn that trust is about risk, fear, safety vs. danger, it's about giving control, and about choice. This episode might feel a little philosophical, but in the end, you will get my definition of what trust is.
Over the years, I developed the Trust Habits™ framework. It has some unique characteristics, such as the recognition that trust is relative, which adds a level of complexity to how you help people become more trusted. You can’t just give “generic” strategies. Being more trustworthy is something that must be developed one relationship at a time. After delivering many, many workshops, I realized that the ideal person in the organization to help build trust, not only for themselves but for everyone in the organization, is the HR professional. In this episode, I explain how I reached that conclusion.
I’m also really excited that I have partnered with a major HR association to deliver the first Trust Habits™ HR Certification program, a 3-day program, in January 2023. In the following weeks and months, we will release more information.
In this episode, recorded three days before the U.S. Independence Day 2022, I decided to share two personal stories related to it. The first is the story of getting my citizenship and something that happened during the final interview. The second story is about a strange email that I received in 2013, supposedly from the White House. Finally, I wanted to share the foreword for The Book of TRUST, written by the late Congressman Sam Johnson, who passed away four months after the book was published, and to whom I dedicated the book.
To close the 5th season, this episode includes the actual soundtrack of Yoram's second TEDx talk, given in May 2022, titled "The Relativity of TRUST." In 13 minutes, he covers one of the main differentiators of his insights from his trust research, put in The Book of TRUST. Trust is not absolute or universal. It is relative. The exact same behavior could cause one person to trust you and another person to distrust you. For that reason, you must consider your trustworthiness independently, one relationship at a time. This episode starts with the background story for that TEDx talk.
Link to the TEDx talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/yoram_solomon_the_relativity_of_trust
Previous TEDx talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/yoram_solomon_the_day_that_forever_changed_american_culture_yoram_solomon_tedxoaklawn
This episode draws on my trust research and also my work as a professor of entrepreneurship. Often I ask my students: if a product (or service) costs you $100 to make, how much should you sell it for? This episode will address this question and the relationships between four components: cost, price, perceived value, and real value. In this episode, you will learn that the relationship between every two components determines the company's sustainability, market share, and trustworthiness. In other words, it determines whether customers will buy from it now, buy from it in the future, and whether it will be able to make money.
Previous episodes dealt with how to be more trustworthy and therefore trusted. But what happens when you lose someone’s trust in you? How do you recover from it? Should you even care? This episode will answer these questions and more and give you a framework to rebuild your trustworthiness once you lose it, using the framework of the 8 laws of trust and my 6-component trustworthiness mode.
My wife heads a Dallas community organization, and recently brought Erez Hasson, a speaker from Israel. For 26 years, Erez was an operator in the Israel Security Agency (ISA, parallel to U.S. NSA), which focuses on Counterterrorism activities in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. If you watched the Netflix show Fauda, his role was like that of Captain Ayob. He recruited spies within the Palestinian territories and then handled them to collect HumInt (Human Intelligence). Erez retired in 2018. I sat down with him and interviewed him for this episode. My main question was, how can you turn someone who hates you (and all Israelis) to a spy who works for you, and how can you trust him (or her)? I used my 8 laws of trust and my 6-component trustworthiness model, and here is what I learned.
There is a new approach to feedback, referred to as “feed-forward” (compared to “feed backward”, which is what the classic type of feedback is referred to). The idea behind “feed-forward” is that instead of giving feedback after the deed is done, when there is no opportunity to implement this feedback (at least not on the deed that was already done), you should give “course corrections” while the work is still being done. It is forward-looking (thus “feed-forward”) compared with backward-looking (thus “feed-back”). In this episode, I explain more about the philosophy of feed-forward, compare it with classical feedback, and provide tips on how to decide which one you should choose in a specific situation.
This is the fifth episode in the mini-series about TRUST and Feedback, and the second about TAKING feedback. In this episode, I will explain the importance of not being defensive when you get feedback, and what not to do when you get it. The episode will discuss again perception versus reality, but this time from the recipient’s perspective. Finally, it will explain how to benefit the most from the feedback you receive, and how to follow up after you received it.
The fourth episode of the TRUST and Feedback mini-series starts to address taking feedback. First, why do I call it “taking” feedback and not “getting” or “receiving” feedback? Why is taking feedback important to you? What should you do if nobody gives you feedback (and why aren’t they giving you feedback?). You will learn what to do when you are offered feedback but are not ready to take it, and what to do when you suspect that feedback is given to you with ulterior motive.
In the third episode of this mini-series about trust and feedback, you will learn how to deliver negative feedback in a constructive and effective way and how to be positive when you deliver negative feedback. You will also realize that there is such a thing as too much feedback, and how to deal with a recipient who doesn’t want to take your feedback. Finally, I will discuss my personal opinion of the “Feedback Sandwich” method (hint: I don’t like it).
This is the second of a six-episode mini-series about TRUST and feedback. This episode will discuss your reasoning for giving feedback and the relationship between perception and reality in your feedback. Once you know you want to give feedback, you will learn how to see if the recipient of feedback is ready to take your feedback, what to do if they are not, and when and where you should give that feedback.
There is a reciprocal relationship between trust, giving feedback, and receptivity to feedback. In one of my surveys, I found that when you trust someone, you are 106% more willing to give them the direct, unfiltered feedback they need to hear, rather than tell them what you think they want to hear. But this reciprocity doesn’t end there. When you give someone the feedback they need, with the clear intention (through their eyes) of helping them become a better version of themselves, they will trust you more. In this episode, I will show you the levels of feedback, discuss positive vs. negative feedback, and give you tips on how to give feedback.
TRUST is continuously declining. There are multiple sources, assessments, and surveys that show that. But why is it declining? It was said that the first step to solving any problem is recognizing that there is one. But the second step is to understand why. Why is trust declining? In this episode, I will use the 6 components of my trustworthiness model, and show how behaviors in each one of them cause the decline of trustworthiness and, as a result, a decline in the level of trust. In the end, I will also include two of the 8 laws of trust, and how shifts in those cause a further decline in trust.
One of the six components of my trustworthiness model is time. Time is one of the “what you do” group of dynamic components. Time accelerates the impact that the interaction's positivity (or negativity) has on your trustworthiness level. But not all time is equal. You know that it takes time to build trust. You also know that once you lose trust, it is almost impossible (or takes a tremendous amount of time) to rebuild it. You also heard that “nobody gets a second chance to make a first impression.” The first impression plays a special role in building trust, as well. This episode will discuss the special role of first impression in building your trustworthiness, explain why it has such a strong impact, explain what happens over time, and give you some advice related to the role that first impression plays in building your trustworthiness.
My 8th Law of Trust states that the level of trust I have in you is the product of my Trustability, or my willingness to trust other people in general, and your trustworthiness. In workshops, I typically say that there is nothing you can do about the former (my trustability), and everything you can do about the latter (your trustworthiness). This is also why my Trust Habits workshop focuses on forming habits that will build your own trustworthiness. But that’s not entirely true. There is something, even though very little, that you can do to affect other people’s trustability, and with that, comes a responsibility. In this episode, I will discuss trustability in a little more depth, show you how you can affect it, and emphasize the responsibility that comes with it.
The idea of posting and relying on customer reviews comes from the fifth law of trust: that trust is transferrable. If you trust one person, who trusts another person, you may trust that other person too.
The better business bureau (BBB), Amazon, Google, and many other companies use such reviews. Before you buy almost anything, before you download a song, go to a movie, or book a hotel room, you check reviews. You buy if you see positive reviews, and you don’t buy if the reviews are bad.
But is that trust justified? Should you trust people you don’t know? In this episode, I will share some of the dangers with relying on customer reviews, but will also discuss other aspects of it, as well as give you ideas on how to know if you can trust reviews, and how to increase the reliability of such reviews.
Trust is the foundation for everything. With trust, you have creativity, productivity, and financial results. With trust, you have strong marriages and healthy relationships with your kids, parents, and friends. But how do you measure trust? Trust is a relatively intangible, abstract construct that’s hard to measure. You can’t just send a questionnaire and ask people “what is the level of trust in your organization?” Trust is relative, and therefore no absolute answer would be accurate. Yes, if trust is the foundation for everything, you must measure it somehow. In this episode, I will provide a philosophy of how you should measure trust.
When the organization has high trust, customers prefer to buy from it, even at higher prices. The employees are less stressed, more engaged, and more satisfied with their jobs. They are capable of conducting a constructive disagreement that leads to creativity. Those high trust companies are more innovative and productive. Projects are completed on time and budget 45% more than low-trust organizations. They deliver 5 times higher profits and 286% higher shareholder returns. It’s all good. But what does that have to do with the board of directors? In this episode, I will give you 4 ways in which the board can influence the level of trust in the organization, for better or worse.
Once again, I’m recording an episode in response to something Simon Sinek said. In a LinkedIn post, he wrote “We don't trust people to follow the rules. We trust people to know when to break them.” I understand the need to be provocative and contrarian, but is this statement true? Is that how we should decide who we trust and who we don’t trust? In this episode, I will break down the relationship between trust and following, or breaking rules. I will also broaden the scope of the discussion and bring in ethics and morals, too.
In one of his videos, Simon Sinek makes the point that trust is more important than performance. I agree with a lot of what he says, but not with this statement. In this episode, I will give you two reasons why I so strongly disagree with this statement, but also, given that trust is relative, how do you balance those two?
How many people can you really trust? Is there a limit to the number of people you can trust? In this episode, I will answer this with a definite YES. But to answer the question “how many?” I would have to say, “it’s complicated.” In this episode, I will uncomplicate things. I will explain what factors affect how many people you can trust, and how much you can really trust them. This episode is a little philosophical, but would help you answer that question yourself. The answer will be based on several laws of trust, on the fact that trust is relative and dynamic, on what you have to lose, on time and intimacy, and, believe it or not, the size of your brain. And, yes, I will give you numbers.
The COVID-19 pandemic, now entering its third year, had a major impact on trust in many ways. Some might say that the impact is not smaller than the events of 9/11. In this episode, I will discuss things such as our trust in the media, science, and experts, the impact of virtual meetings on intimacy and trust, the impact of the polarization around masks and vaccines on trust, the quality of education, and the impact it will have on trust in the future, and the great resignation. I will not take a position on those topics but rather discuss how they relate to, affect, or are affected by trust. Finally, I’ll address the issue of “the new normal.”
This is the second part of this two-part episode on accountability.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines accountability as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.” In my research, I found a very strong link between trust and accountability. Like any trust relationship, this one, too, is reciprocal. If you behave in an accountable way, I will trust you, I will give you autonomy because I trust you not to abuse it, and you will then trust me, and be even more accountable. Accountability cuts across many relationships, from personal to professional. This is the first of two episodes in which, through stories and my research and trust model, I will discuss several aspects of accountability, the link between accountability and trust, and give you 10 ways to be more accountable and trusted.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines accountability as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.” In my research, I found a very strong link between trust and accountability. Like any trust relationship, this one, too, is reciprocal. If you behave in an accountable way, I will trust you, I will give you autonomy because I trust you not to abuse it, and you will then trust me, and be even more accountable. Accountability cuts across many relationships, from personal to professional. This is the first of two episodes in which, through stories and my research and trust model, I will discuss several aspects of accountability, the link between accountability and trust, and give you 10 ways to be more accountable and trusted. This is the first in a two-part episode.
It’s that time of the year, and we set our new year resolutions. But, before you set your new year resolutions, let me ask you one question: did YOU achieve LAST year’s resolution? I found a statistic that showed that 35% of people kept ALL their 2020 resolutions. That’s not bad! 49% kept some, and 16% kept none. So, what’s the secret to achieving your new year's resolutions? In this episode, I will focus on resolutions that intend to form new habits. The framework I will use is the same that I used in The Book of TRUST and I use in my Trust Habits Workshops to help form habits that build your trustworthiness. I also used it in the book Worst Diet Ever to help lose weight and live healthy (and that’s how I lost 32 pounds myself…). In this episode I will show you how to form habits, successfully, so that you will achieve your 2022 resolutions.
A very famous speaker was procrastinating until the last minute on writing his speech. In fact, he went on stage without the entire speech. He was a procrastinator. Then, on stage, he added four more words to it. He decided to start with the words: "I have a dream..."
We typically look at procrastination in a negative context. But, is it all bad? In this episode, I will first show both the negative and positive aspects of procrastination. I will also give you some advice as to how to decide whether to procrastinate or not.
But the most important part is that I will show you how to determine whether you should trust a procrastinator or not and whether you should be trusted based on your procrastination profile. That decision will be based on the Personality Compatibility component of trustworthiness, and will be explained through the lens of the first four laws of trust, namely that trust is relative.
After covering the entire Trust Habits process, this final episode of the 3rd season will answer the question, "what's next?" What should you do once you are more trusted in a specific relationship in a specific context? How do you extend this new habit? This episode will propose how to increase your trustworthiness in the eyes of the same person further, how to be trusted in the same relationship doing more things, and how to be trusted by other people, as well.
Finally, this episode will also reflect on the first three seasons of this podcast, and give you a glance of what's coming in the 4th season and beyond.
The first 6 steps of the process helped you identify a relationship, what you are doing that's holding you back from being more trusted in that relationship, identify a new habit that will help you be more trusted, and helped you refine and clarify that habit, making it stick, and appoint an accountability partner that will help you achieve your goal. You could have done all of that without leaving your chair, and you could have completed it in hours or days. But now, it's time to form the habit. You have a plan, and you must execute it. This episode describes the 7th step of the Trust Habits process, the step you do by yourself. The episode will answer the main question: how long would it take for it to become a habit? There are two reasons why it will take months (and not days or weeks). The episode will also propose what to do if you miss practicing the habit.
In a study, the Association for Training and Development found that by yourself, the probability of achieving a goal you have set for yourself will not exceed 50%. There is one more method we will deploy to help you build the new habit that will make you more trusted: using an accountability partner. In this episode, we will explain why an accountability partner is important, help you decide who would be a good accountability partner for you, and how to effectively work with the accountability partner.
It's not enough that you identified the new habit that must replace an old bad habit that was holding you back from being more trusted. The Goldilocks rule states that if it is too easy or too hard, you will not be motivated enough to form this new habit. So, you chose a habit that is right there on the line of being too hard. The previous episode gave you five methods to make it a little easier, or make it "stick." But, often the intrinsic motivation (being more trusted) is simply not enough to overcome the effort. This episode covers the sixth method to make it stick: extrinsic motivation. What is extrinsic motivation? How does it work? When could you stop? Answers to all these questions are in this episode of The TRUST Show.
The last three episodes covered the first four steps in developing a habit that will help you become more trusted. You identified a specific relationship (Step 1), one bad habit you have that's holding you back from being more trusted (Step 2), and one good new habit that will contradict your bad habit (Step 3). In Step 4, you clarified it further and made it a S.M.A.R.T. habit (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). This episode will help you make this new habit stick, make it easier to form into something that you do automatically. This episode will cover the first 5 (of 6) methods to achieve that: Filling the void, Friction Control, Habit Conditioning, Technical Support, and Logging.
This is the third episode in which I’m taking you through the 7 step process to be more trusted. In the previous episodes, you went through step 1 and identified one relationship you want to be more trusted at, and through step 2, where you identified one bad thing you are doing in that relationship that is holding you back from being more trusted. In this episode, we will go through step 3, and identify one good thing you will do to counteract that bad thing, and also turn is into a SMART action plan.
This is the second episode in which I’m taking you through the 7 step process to be more trusted. In the previous episode, you went through step 1 and identified one relationship you want to be more trusted at. In this episode, you will go through step 2, and identify one bad thing you are doing in that relationship that is holding you back from being more trusted.
In previous seasons and episodes you learned what trust is, the benefits of it, the costs of not having trust. You learned the 8 laws of trust, and that the building block of trust is your trustworthiness. Then, you learned my 6 component model of what makes a person trustworthy. I even applied it to different situations. Now, it’s time to work on your trustworthiness, using my 7-step process. To some extent, it is similar to losing weight. There are strong benefits, but it’s really hard to do, although not impossible. This is the first episode in a series of episodes that will take you through that process. If up until now I educated you, now it’s time to make it happen. I will give you examples from my weight loss journey, as well as the process I took myself through to become a better leader. I will give you specific assignments. The best way to benefit from this is to actually do the assignments. You can follow the process here in this podcast, or in The Book of TRUST, The WORKBOOK of TRUST, or my online courses TRUSTED at WORK.
No leader intentionally wants to kill trustworthiness of their people. But they do it anyway, and often for what they believe are justified reasons. Nevertheless, the outcome is the same: they cause their people to lose their trustworthiness, and as a result, they can’t trust them. This episode will explain WHY it happens in light of the 8 laws of trust and the 6 components of trustworthiness which were covered in seasons one and two of this podcast, but also give you tools, using those same 8 laws and 6 components, to stop killing their trustworthiness and increase the level of trust in the organization.
Why is trust so important? How does trust contribute to the bottom line? This episode cites a lot of research done by many. It shows the impact of having trust on company performance, on employee attitudes, on employee behaviors, and on project performance. A lot of numbers will be thrown in this episode, that will paint a complete picture. They will show what happens when the level of trust is above average, as well as what happens when it dips below average. It will also explain why being trusted is so important to us. All the sources of the data provided in this episode are listed in The Book of Trust.
There are two words that are probably responsible for launching more failed businesses than any other two words in the English language, and possibly in history: Great Job! This episode is more of an opinion, and it’s an opinion about one of my biggest pet peeves, and it is linked directly to trust, the lack of trust, the decline in trustworthiness, and the decline of excellence and exceptionalism. I will be using my trust model to explain why we do it, what are the consequences of it, and how to stop it.
We are bombarded with tv and radio commercials telling us the certain brands are TRUSTED. I always cringe when I hear that. Are they really trusted? Are they worthy of your trust? Says who? This episode will not teach you a new trust law, or a new component of trust, but rather apply those to the trustworthiness of a brand. What you will find in this episode is that there is no one way to be trusted as a brand, and a few mistakes that brands make in their attempt to be trusted, and how to avoid those mistakes.
This is the second part (of 2) to cover the two components that accelerate the impact that positivity has on building trust: time and intimacy. Time is the frequency and length of interactions, and intimacy is the level of communication, and ranges from words-only text and email messages to in-person, face-to-face communications, and even more. In this episode, we focus on the consistency of verbal and non-verbal communications, and the link between that consistency and trust. This episode also covers additional elements such as things beyond face-to-face communications, the body language of email, how trust can be built even through one-way communications, and more.
The previous episode covered the positivity component of “what you do”. Your positivity sets the direction to whether you build trust or reduce trust during an interaction. This episode is the first part (of two) covering the two components that accelerate the impact that positivity has on building trust: time and intimacy. Time is the frequency and length of interactions, and intimacy is the level of communication, and ranges from words-only text and email messages to in-person, face-to-face communications, and even more.
The first five episodes of the second season described the three components of the “who you are” group of components of my trustworthiness model: competence, personality compatibility, and symmetry. This episode begins covering the components of the “what you do” during an interaction that will allow you to have an immediate impact on your trustworthiness by the end of the interaction. There are three components in this group: positivity, time, and intimacy. This episode goes into the details of the positivity component and the two sub-components it has: the level of BS you bring into the interaction, and the level of your self-centered behavior. These will be multiplied, and accelerated by time an intimacy, which will be described in later episodes.
This episode is the second of two parts discussing symmetry. This episode focuses on fairness. Fairness showed a strong correlation with trust. We trust people who treat us fairly. But there are different types of fairness. You will hear about fairness exercises, a mistake I made in conducting one of those exercises that led to a major revelation, and about a group of people who demonstrated an extreme position on fairness. You will want to hear this. Finally, this episode briefly discusses symmetry in partnership relationships. When you launch a new business or venture, it is critical you start with a partner you trust, and a partner who trusts you.
This is the third and last component of the “who you are” group of components in my trustworthiness model: Symmetry. This component is situational. This episode is the first of two parts discussing symmetry. Symmetry is a situational component, that is based on perspective. The two sides to a trusting relationship may have different perspectives of their relationship. This first part focuses on being on the same side. From a positive standpoint: having a shared vision or mission that are energizing and engaging the hearts and minds. From a negative standpoint: having a common enemy. It continues and discusses the symmetry of contribution and of getting (resources, compensation, etc.). Finally, it discusses reciprocity.
This episode is the second part of the personality compatibility component of “who you are.” The previous episode covered two dimensions of personality compatibility (area and scope). This episode covers the other three.
The third dimension of personality compatibility is alignment. At the universal/absolute level, alignment is mandatory for trust. However, the personal level, where there are multiple “good” alternatives that could be completely opposite, could entertain alignment, complementary relations, or simply different values.
The fourth dimension is importance. Alignment may not be achieved throughout every behavior or value, but the importance that the trustor gives it will dictate how much they will trust you.
The fifth dimension is controllability. If the level of alignment was not achieved, will you accept that there is something you should change, and more important—can you control it? Will you be able to change?
The second component of “who you are” is the personality compatibility. Since trust is relative (trust laws 1 through 4), personality compatibility should be considered through the eyes of the person you want to be trusted by. Personality compatibility has the biggest impact on how much the other person is willing to trust you, 86%.
There are five dimensions for personality compatibility. The first two are covered in this episode, the first of two episodes to cover this component.
The first dimension is the area of such compatibility. It includes how you interpret the world and communications, what are your values, your intentions, your actions and behaviors, and finally your personality characteristics (typically measured through personality assessments such as Myers Briggs, DiSC, StrengthsFinder, and the like).
The second dimension is the scope. It is a continuum that starts at universal scope, in which good is considered good by everyone and bad is considered bad by everyone. It continues through cultural scope, local/organizations scope (such as traditions and “how we do things here”), and down to the personal level, in which opposite behaviors and values could be equally valid and good (or bad).
This episode also discusses the differences between the ethical bar and the legal bar, and how compatibility (or incompatibility) there affects trust.
This is the first episode of the second season. This season, for the most part, focuses on the six components of my trustworthiness model. These components are what makes a person worthy of someone else’s trust.
Remember that trust is relative, so these components must be evaluated in the context of a specific relationship, specific situation, and specific context.
The six components are divided into two groups: who you ARE, and what you DO. This first episode of the second season provides the overview of the 6-component model and covers the first one, competence.
This is the last episode of season 1 of The Trust Show. In this episode, I discuss the three layers of successful organizations, and how you can improve them. Organizations typically put emphasis on two of them: personal/professional development, and organizational development. With personal development we improve the individuals, individually. With organizational development, we typically use tools to grow the organization, such as strategic planning, idea generation, and operational excellence. However, organizations typically don’t emphasize the third component enough: building trust. Having highly developed and professional individuals is not enough for the organizational development to be successful. First, you must build trust. Trust is what turns a group of creative, productive, and effective individuals into a creative, productive, and effective team. In this episode you will learn why, and how.
This episode will show you how important is trustworthiness for you when you try to sell something. Specifically, that you can charge a higher price than an untrustworthy salesperson can, and still win the business. You'll be surprised by how much of a higher price. You will also get a few specific tips on how to be a more trustworthy salesperson, from the book "Can I Trust You? 50+1 Habits that will make you a trustworthy SALESPERSON.
This is the conclusion of the 8 laws of trust, covering laws 5, 7, and 8. The first four laws describe the relativity of trust. Law 5 describe trust as transferrable. Law 7 focuses on the dynamic nature of trust, and Law 8 suggests that trust is two sided, and that the level of trust you have in another person is the product of your trustability (willingness to trust other people in general) and the other person's trustworthiness.
Understanding these 8 laws will help understanding everything else I will say about trust. These 8 laws emphasizes the differentiation of my approach to trust: trust is RELATIVE and not UNIVERSAL, and it is trust is DYNAMIC and not STATIC.
This episode is the second of two parts about what makes for a culture of trust in an organization. It talks about what it feels to have a culture of trust, what are the symptoms, and how they correlate to trust. The previous episode talked about the vertical components: autonomy and accountability. This episode talks about the horizontal component: the ability to hold a constructive disagreement.
This episode is the first of two parts about what makes for a culture of trust in an organization. It starts by talking about what it feels to have a culture of trust, what are the symptoms, and how they correlate to trust. This episode will cover the vertical components (between leaders and their teams): autonomy and accountability.
Most people who talk about trust as if it’s universal or fixed. It’s not. In this episode, I will show you 4 ways in which trust (and trustworthiness) are not universal, but rather relative, and will take you through the first 4 laws of trust I discovered (Trust is Continuous, Contextual, Personal, and Asymmetrical).
This episode is going to be a bit more philosophical. I will first define what risk, fear, trust, danger, and safety are, and then describe the relationships between them. What makes us feel safe? What makes us feel that we are in danger? Can we decide how much risk we are willing to take? What are the consequences of taking more risk, and what are the consequences of taking too little risk? Finally, I will provide my own definition for trust, and break it down into its components.
In this episode I will answer one simple question: what comes first, trust, or trustworthiness? Or, in other words: should you trust only someone who has done enough to earn your trust, or should you start by trusting them?
In this episode I will answer the questions: Why should trust be important to you? Why was it important to me? Why is understanding trust important? What should you expect from this podcast?
This is the first episode of the first season of The Trust Show. Instead of starting with the introduction, I decided to start with a full content episode. In this episode I will discuss the impact of team size on the level of trust in that team.