Getting Real About Trust
A Pocket Framework for Winning Trust In Products and Teams
Search “building trust” and you’ll see tons of articles vying to one-up the other on the same ideal — that trust is earned, grown, or given.
But, to discuss trust in a meaningful way, we have to remove the gimmicky jargon and get real.
Trust is not earned, grown, or given.
Trust is confidence won
We have confidence in people [and companies] whom we believe understand more than we do, have better insight into the unknown, and when a problem arises, can problem-solve clearly and quickly and arrive at a sensible, safe, and fair decision.
The most interesting thing about trust is that it relies heavily on the perception of an audience, which is controlled entirely by our rhetoric and behavior.
Winning trust is a centuries-old practice
Cicero wrote about winning trust in his leadership self-help book, De Officiis, published in 44 BCE.¹ According to the famous Roman orator and Stoic scholar, trust can be won in two ways:
- Having a reputation of wisdom (foresight to discern what is suitable) combined with justice — with the latter being the more influential
“Justice without wisdom can do many things, wisdom without justice will be powerless.”² — Cicero, De Officiis, Book II, Paragraph 34
2. Being honest and dependable, such that people will want to entrust you [or your product] with their safety, money, or relationships
These words are as true as they were 2,000+ year ago. Being knowledgeable doesn’t make you trustworthy, just clever. It has little to do with being able to apply that knowledge, quickly or clearly problem-solve, possess honesty, or arrive at fair, workable, or safe solutions. Whereas, qualities like follow-through, thorough support and service, clear communication, accountability, problem-solving, and navigating emerging situations with safe decisions set you [or your products] up for trustworthiness.
A foundation for winning trust
If you want to win trust, you need to work to develop and demonstrate the foundational qualities that enable you [or your product/ company] to be regarded as trustworthy. This isn’t overnight, but over time.
Consider reframing Cicero’s core ideas as the basic foundations to winning trust — of your customers, communities, partners, team members, and other stakeholders:
- Dependable — Accountable, thorough, and relied upon
- Principled— Fair, ethical, and to do what is right
- Reasonable — sound judgment, respected insights, appropriate decision-making in priority situations
First, commit to offering true value —
To win trust and be viewed as trustworthy, founders, teams, and companies should focus on offering true value to the people and groups wherein winning trust is paramount.
Offering true value means participating in interest-based exchanges, without positioning for the purpose or expectation of personal gain. In the context of a product, this not only means ensuring it works (dependability), but can solve a real problem.
Then, demonstrate commitment to what they value —
It’s not enough to be value-aligned. You have to demonstrate you authentically care about their interests, and in the case of customers, solving their problems.
A primary way to show this kind of investment in others is by learning about stakeholder perspectives and their fundamental cares, concerns, and needs which may be grounded in unique experience, culture, or language traits. For customers, it’s not enough to learn about their problem, but also what drives them in pursuit of a solution to that problem.
The reality is that trust doesn’t stop at understanding, developing principles, or making good decisions. It’s an ongoing effort to maintain confidence won.
¹“People’s trust can be won in two ways: first, if we possess the reputation of having acquired wisdom that is combined with justice. We trust those men who, we think, understand more than we and who, we believe, can foresee the future, who improvise an action and who can produce a plan quickly when an event is underway and has reached a crisis; for men think that such abilities are useful and genuine wisdom. Second, people put their trust in honest [and dependable] men, that is, in good men, for the reason that no one has the least reason to suspect them of deceit and wrong-doing.” Cicero De Officiis, Book II, Para.33–34, Translated by Harry G. Edinger. 1974
²Id.
