Nick Lynn’s Post

You can listen to Joe summarise his research for the book in this podcast: https://zengerfolkman.com/episode-78-the-proven-formula-for-building-trust-2/

Another way of looking at Trust.. may sound little philosophical..  bear with me 😊 There is nothing called absolute truth. Its always relative and in way, all of us operate in three levels of truth. Not at same level all the time, depending on situation, context, agents involved, etc.. we move from one level to the other without conscious awareness. What are these three levels of truth, then? 1.      Absolute experience – What I experienced is the truth for me and everything else needs to wait until I can experience it firsthand. In a way, its child like stance from individuals. We operate at this level in some situations and contexts.. 2.      Profound Rationale – What makes sense is true to me. Mind you, at this level of operating, its about making sense to “me” and NOT universally logical or what may be logical to you or makes sense to you.. This is more of an adult stance. 3.      Belief on Source - Its is true because “you” said so. “you” as a source bypass my own experiences & rationale and I accept it as truth and follow. We do operate at this level in some situations & contexts with specific agents (sources)

I would add a 4th pillar to this. Something that stands out by its ommision is ‘integrity’. Doing what is right all all times, regardless of who is watching. Integrity encompasses all the points from the first pillars but it also adds the context of having to maintain those key qualities at all times. By doing what’s right and expected of you in terms of your responsibilities, whether you’re visible or not really highlights your commitment, drive and passion for your work/team/department. It also adds that key quality of standing by your decisions and the work you do for the sake of company values and morals. Sometimes that means choosing the path less trodden or having to make a difficult decision for the benefit of the ‘bigger picture’. Finally: 1. Judgement and decision making are enhanced when done with integrity 2. The use of your experience, being a role model and keeping your promises are all traits of integrity and are a solid foundation on which your use of knowledge and expertise can be built 3. Integrity allows you to demonstrate unwavering commitment to doing the right thing, every time while always being conscious of the benefits of diversity snd inclusion. A very interesting model.

I love this Nick Lynn. While I have not read the book, to me, the technical part of expertise in a leader, is not even that pivotal - if they are, as you write, knowledgeable, well-informed, grasp facts quickly and are good judges of their teams' expertise, capabilities and character, then they can delegate the technical part...I have a friend who was selected very young, due to her political belonging, to a very high position, with no technical expertise (and not much experience either, but an authentic personality and good common sense). She had the humbleness to admit to her limitations, hired the most excellent people to work for her, recognized them, listened to them, and they soared:) and on trust: it goes both ways and is so key. it has to do with being dependable, predictable, consistent and demonstrating key values aligned (both ways!)...

Nick Lynn Trust is 2 way process. Give & Take. Leadership or whatever the business activity depends on trust. Everything in life based on trust.

Thanks Nick, I really like "Confidence can magnify trust, but only when a person’s confidence matches up with their competence", this is so true in a business environment..

Brilliant Nick Lynn Here is another one I find useful too:

I like this formula 😊

So true! Confidence without the competence is so painful!

Great discussion around Trust as elementary for any healthy relationship I would say. I find the Thin book of Trust by Charles Feltman as very simple and understandable. I would like to add regarding competence it is not only about the expertise it is ALSO about vulnerability and tell when “you know what you do not know.”