With the recent what I call the ‘lack of privacy’ debacle with Facebook and the consequences of knowing or, not knowing whether your data was given to other parties without your permission, Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team will have a lot of work to do, and maybe they need to review how to build and maintain trust!
Trust is something that the highly successful leader constructs over time and then nurtures over the course of any relationship.
When you do things that increase the level of trust, your capacity to build relationships, create and seize opportunities, and achieve success increases substantially. When trust is high, you become more effective and influential in all aspects of your life. Even the most complex interactions and transactions become significantly easier when there is a high level of trust.
If you want to influence, do business with, or interact safely with others, building trust is essential. If you are trusted, people will generally be relaxed around you. They will be confident that you will treat them well and fairly.
Here are a few specific actions you can take to make yourself worthy of trust:
• Do high-quality work and finish it on schedule.
• Be consistent so that others will see you as reliable.
• Be predictable. Have a reputation for following through on what you say you will do.
• Be open in communicating commitments, and be willing to have your performance measured.
• Give trust. As with most other things in life, you get what you give when you practice the Law of Reciprocity
• Tell the truth. If you are hiding something or telling half-truths, eventually you will get caught up in your web of lies.
As you achieve trustworthiness and meet the expectations of others, you will experience peace and balance in your life. Your relationships will be more rewarding, you will be better able to resist negative influences, and you will build self-respect.
Running a business or department in today’s high-pressure business landscape gets more difficult every year. Given the level of competition, it seems that you either sacrifice your personal life for your job or you lose everything.
‘Becoming Your Best’ by Steve Shallenberger, reveals the lessons you need to follow in order to reach your highest potential and drive the kind of innovation that turns good businesses into industry leaders — all while living a well-balanced personal life. Shallenberger suggests that you learn the 12 principles for developing a culture of excellence, which include:
• Be True to your Character
• Lead with a Vision
• Prioritise Your Time
• Innovate through Imagination
• Be Accountable for your actions
• Live in Peace and Balance
• Be an Effective Communicator.
Reference: Steve Shallenberger: “Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders”
