Archive

Archive for June, 2015

Jun
27

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What can we learn about trust from the great leaders, teachers, writers and philosophers?

JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING

This week we turn our attention to the words of Peter Drucker, an author, educator and management consultant who was hailed by Business Week as the “man who invented management.”  This article pulls together twenty of his most inspiring quotes. Regardless of your role in life- a parent, teacher, business, religious or military leader, the following contain many messages about character, competence and consistency, the key ingredients for building trust.

  1. “To do the most good requires saying no to pressures to stray, and the discipline to stop doing what does not fit.”
  2. “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.”
  3. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
  4. “Every enterprise requires commitment to common goals and shared values. Without such commitment there is no enterprise; there is only a mob. The enterprise must have simple, clear, and unifying objectives. The mission of the organization has to be clear enough and big enough to provide common vision. The goals that embody it have to be clear, public, and constantly reaffirmed. Management’s first job is to think through, set, and exemplify those objectives, values, and goals.
  5. “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.”
  6. “Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.”
  7. “People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”
  8. “Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”
  9. “A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do at all.”
  10. “1. What is our mission? 2. Who is our customer? 3. What does the customer value? 4. What are our results? 5. What is our plan?”
  11. “The focus on contribution by itself supplies the four basic requirements of effective human relations: communications; teamwork; self-development; and development of others.”
  12. “Many brilliant people believe that ideas move mountains. But bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.”
  13. “Meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization For one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”
  14. “Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here.” Everyone around the table nodded assent. “Then,” continued Mr. Sloan, “I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.”
  15. “plan, organize, integrate, motivate, and measure.”
  16. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
  17. “If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old”
  18. “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”
  19. “Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.”
  20. “The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader’s charisma. What matters is the leader’s mission.”

My favorites are #4, #6, #16 and #20. How about yours? 

Want to read more from this series?

We recently highlighted some of the best quotes on building trust from:

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She facilitates the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

 

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Jun
24

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In most companies trust is taken for granted until a crisis threatens earnings and subsequent shareholder loyalty. And because it’s not regulated, most CEOs ignore the word “trust” completely. Just ask any CEO how trustworthy they think their company is, and depending on the route they took in their ascent through the ranks, these are the responses you will most likely receive:

  • The College Sports Team Captain:  “Trust is an outcome of wins over losses.”
  • The Chief Marketing/Communications Officer: “Trust is gained or lost according to the message we deliver.”
  • The Military Officer: “Trust is a product of strong teams.”
  • The Milton Friedman follower: “Our quarterly earnings are growing so we are trusted by our shareholders.”
  • The Chief Compliance Officer: “If we abide by the regulations, we are trustworthy.”
  • The General Counsel: “If we don’t break any laws, we are trustworthy.”
  • The Chief Financial Officer: “Our level of trust is measured in our income statement and balance sheet.”
  • The Investment Banker: “We benchmark our trust against our competitors.”

If all these definitions are correct, then why are the levels of trust so low, not only in corporate America but globally? The answer is simply, “The definitions are wrong.”

Fortunately some leaders, and their Boards have tossed these “old school” siloed and limited definitions of organizational trust to the curb.  We are beginning to see the emergence of a new “class” of enlightened CEOs who are leading very differently and their companies are thriving.

  • The Values Based Leader: We define trust according to how trustworthy I am viewed as a leader.
  • The Trust Based Leader: We define trust through our leadership and organizational values, and how well we are meeting the needs of all our stakeholders- shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, community, etc.

Trust begins with leadership that recognizes its value and embraces it as a long-term business strategy. Until leaders at both the Board and CEO level lose their “old school” definition and adopt a new one that works, trust will stagnate. CEOs will continue to extinguish the daily fires by hiring more compliance staff to meet the needs of the ever increasing regulations that are written as a result of low trust and trust violations. Sounds like a never-ending cycle of mistrust … and a short-term strategy at best.

I challenge all CEOs and Boards to lose their old definition of trust and replace it with one that works. Start by becoming a values based leader and trust will follow.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also facilitates the world’s largest membership program for those interested in learning more about the subject. Barbara is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 she was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

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Jun
20

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What can we learn about trust from the great leaders, teachers, writers and philosophers?

JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING

This week, and in recognition of Father’s Day we turn our attention to quotes from fathers, for fathers and about fathers.  Regardless of your role in life- a parent, teacher, business, religious or military leader, the following contain many messages about character, competence and consistency, the key ingredients for building trust.

  1. “Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating…too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.” John Wooden
  2. “Fathers…it’s vital to exhibit a thoughtful balance between being a tough as nails disciplinarian and compassionate gentle patriarch to our families. Too much of one devastates relationships and too much of the other emasculates our ability to effectively lead. Our wives and children need the security and assurance of knowing that we can be both tough and tender. One side steel…the other side velvet. ~Jason Versey”
  3. “The greatest mark of a father is how he treats his children when no one is looking.” Dan Pearce
  4. “The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams and aspirations he sets not only for himself, but for his family.” Reed Markham
  5. “As fathers, we should have a desire to be active participants in our children’s lives.” Asa Don Brown
  6. “(My father) didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” Clarence B. Kelland
  7. “I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” Umberto Eco
  8. “Dads. Do you not realize that a child is what you tell them they are? That people almost always become what they are labeled? Was whatever your child just did really the “dumbest thing you’ve ever seen somebody do”? Was it really the “most ridiculous thing they ever could have done”? Do you really believe that your child is an idiot? Because she now does. Think about that. Because you said it, she now believes it. Bravo.”  Dan Pearce
  9. “His client needs him, he says. Needs him? But isn’t he needed at home?” Beth Kephart
  10. “The strength of a man is in his character. A strong man is great man of wisdom who understands, his top priority is to his family.”  Ellen J. Barrier
  11. “As a father, we need to actively listen.”  Asa Don Brown
  12. “It has been said that as goes the family, so goes the world. It can also be said that as goes the father, so goes the family.”  Voddie T. Baucham Jr.
  13. “My dad kept giving me “love pats.” Love pats are soft punches of encouragement that are administered on the knee, shoulder, and arm.”  Stephen Chbosky
  14. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” Jim Valvano
  15. “One father is more than 100 schoolmasters.” George Herbert
  16. “There’s no better cure for the fear of taking after one’s father, than not to know who he is.”  Andre Gide
  17. “Spiritual fathers have influence over the lives of individuals. Patriarchs have influence over families. The devil has been able to destroy families because there is a lack of spiritual fathers and patriarchs.”  Sherry K. White
  18. “There is no teacher equal to mother and there’s nothing more contagious than the dignity of a father.”  Amit Ray
  19. “A father acts on behalf of his children by working, providing, intervening, struggling, and suffering for them. In so doing, he really stands in their place. He is not an isolated individual, but incorporates the selves of several people in his own self. Every attempt to live as if he were alone is a denial of the fact that he is actually responsible. He cannot escape the responsibility, which is his because he is a father. This reality refutes the fictitious notion that the isolated individual is the agent of all ethical behavior. It is not the isolated individual but the responsible person who is the proper agent to be considered in ethical reflection.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  20. “Listen, there is no way any true man is going to let children live around him in his home and not discipline and teach, fight and mold them until they know all he knows. His goal is to make them better than he is. Being their friend is a distant second to this.”  Victor Devlin

Did your father say or do something that encouraged you to lead with trust? Please share your story with us.

Want to read more from this series?

We recently highlighted some of the best quotes on building trust from:

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust, and runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

 

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Jun
17

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I’ve spent the best part of a 20+ year career on a mission to simplify complex subjects, and for the past 6, my focus has been on organizational trust. If I had known 6 years ago the quicksand I was about to step into, I may have chosen a different subject! But with great tenacity, I have waded through murky waters and, with the guidance of some amazing and accomplished colleagues, developed a very simple “Golden Rule” of organizational trust. It’s not perfect, but captures the key elements for those who are already on a quest to proactively address what some have called the “issue of the decade.” And if you, like so many others, are stuck in an organizational “crisis mentality quicksand,” this may help you dig your way out.

 

The VIP Model of Organizational Trust

Vision & Values+Integrity+Promises Kept=Trust

 

VIPPicture

 

Organizations and their leaders become trustworthy once trust is earned.

This is accomplished via the following sequence of actions:

  • VISION & VALUES: Identify what the organization wants to achieve. Why does it exist and what does it stand for? Write a credo.
  • INTEGRITY: Identify, practice and communicate the moral principles and purpose of the leadership team and the organization. Alignment is essential.
  • PROMISES: Ensure that leadership is held accountable for doing what they say they will do, and for regularly communicating the vision, values and promises to all stakeholders.

Regardless of the size or nature of your organization, this VIP Model will set you on the right course to building organizational trust “worthiness.” What do you think? Worth a try?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also facilitates the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject, and is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

 

 

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Jun
13

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What can we learn about trust from the great leaders, teachers, writers and philosophers?

JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING

This week we turn our attention to the words of Deepak Chopra, an Indian medical doctor and author of more than 80 books, including 22 NY Times Bestsellers. Chopra is an influential global scholar and thinker. This article pulls together twenty of his most inspiring quotes. Regardless of your role in life- a parent, teacher, business, religious or military leader, the following contain many messages about character, competence and consistency, the key ingredients for building trust.

  1. “There is a big difference between being centered and being self-centered.”
  2. “When you make a choice, you change the future.”
  3. “You will be transformed by what you read.”
  4. “Ask for nothing less than inspiration.”
  5. “Good luck is opportunity meeting preparedness.”
  6. “Instead of asking “what’s the problem?” ask “what’s the creative opportunity?”
  7. “Owning your own feelings, rather than blaming them on someone else, is the mark of a person who has moved from contracted to expanded awareness.”
  8. “Give up being right. Instead radiate peace, harmony, love, and laughter from your heart.”
  9. “The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.”
  10. “If you focus on success, you’ll have stress. But if you pursue excellence, success will be guaranteed.”
  11. “The more boundless your vision, the more real you are.”
  12. “The direction of life is from duality to unity.”
  13. “Every great change is preceded by chaos.”
  14. “The world ‘out there’ won’t change until the world ‘in here’ does.”
  15. “Never forget your real identity. You are a luminous conscious stardust being forged in the crucible of cosmic fire.”
  16. “Replace fear-based thinking with love-based thinking. Every time you’re making a choice, ask yourself if it’s going to cultivate the experience of unity and love or the experience of separation and stress.”
  17. “Freedom comes when you see the built-in contradiction of trying to manipulate something that is going right to begin with…. Stop trying to steer the river.”
  18. “Attachment to money will always create insecurity no matter how much money you have in the bank.”
  19. “Nothing brings down walls as surely as acceptance.”
  20. “And stop talking in that puffed-up way they taught you. Words aren’t brains, you know.”

My favorites are #1, #7, #8 and #20. How about yours? 

Want to read more from this series?

We recently highlighted some of the best quotes on building trust from:

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust, and runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jun
10

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It’s no secret that trust is either completely ignored or taken for granted in most organizations. In fact, usually its a pattern of systemic low trust, followed by a crisis, for the word “trust” to even make its way on to the organization’s radar. And then the wrong question is asked.  How do we “rebuild” trust (even though it never existed)? What a mess.

Why is this? These are the 5 most common excuses for ignoring trust:

  1. Boards and C-Suites (in most organizations) have never considered trust as a business imperative or strategy.
  2. Organizational trust is mistaken for compliance which is confused with ethics.
  3. Organizational trust cannot be regulated. It’s voluntary.
  4. When a trust breach occurs, often the punishment doesn’t fit crime so there is little deterrent for repeating the “crime.”
  5. Trust is soft and can’t be measured. And that which can’t be measured, can’t be managed.

It’s #5 that perhaps bears the least weight. There are numerous measurements of organizational trust and trustworthiness. Trust Across America-Trust Around the World has aggregated 5 years of data proving the Return on Trust in public companies. Other global trust experts have validated assessment tools measuring the most important indicators of qualitative trust in leaders, teams, employees, etc.

Organizations choosing  to be proactive about trust must turn over the right rock to find the help they need. It doesn’t come from legal, compliance, risk, crisis management, CSR, sustainability, marketing or traditional leadership expertise. The only way to craft a trust-building strategy that “sticks” is by having the right people do it, and those are trust experts, no one else.

Taking trust for granted is like breathing…until the heart attack makes it impossible. Then the victim tries to find the best Band Aid to temporarily stop the disease when it could have been totally avoided. Leaders who choose to be proactive about trust have a huge advantage over their competitors. All the excuses in the world won’t change that.

Have you answered our June “Pulse” on Trust question? Today is the last day to vote. It will take no more than 30 seconds.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust, and runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

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Jun
06

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What can we learn about trust from the great leaders, teachers, writers and philosophers?

JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING

This week we turn our attention to the words of Napoleon Hill, an American author who wrote about success, but probably best known for Think and Grow Rich, one of the best-selling books of all time.  Hill was also an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This article pulls together twenty of his most inspiring quotes. Regardless of your role in life- a parent, teacher, business, religious or military leader, the following contain many messages about character, competence and consistency, the key ingredients for building trust.

  1. “When you are able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity – regardless of what others may do – you are destined for greatness.”
  2. “Action is the real measure of intelligence.”
  3. “An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the rights of others.”
  4. “There are no limitations to the mind except those that we acknowledge.”
  5. “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.”
  6. “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way.”
  7. “The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.”
  8. “A goal is a dream with a deadline.”
  9. “If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it . . . ”
  10. “War grows out of desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man.”
  11. “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
  12. “Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
  13. “Enthusiasm is the steam that drives the engine.”
  14. “Success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis.”
  15. “Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent.”
  16. “The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.”
  17. “No one can make you jealous, angry, vengeful, or greedy; unless you let him.”
  18. “No man has a chance to enjoy permanent success until he begins to look in a mirror for the real cause of all his mistakes.”
  19. “You become what you think about.”
  20. “TELL THE WORLD WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO, BUT FIRST SHOW IT. This is the equivalent of saying “deeds, and not words, are what count most.”

My favorites are #11, #15 and #20. How about yours? 

Want to read more from this series?

We recently highlighted some of the best quotes on building trust from:

 

Have you answered our June “Pulse” on Trust question? It will take no more than 30 seconds.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust, and runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

 

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Jun
03

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How is it that large public companies, supposedly run by smart experienced leaders get the simple stuff so wrong?

I was completing a purchase at a discount clothing store (think Marshall’s, Target or Kohl’s.) The checker, a store manager, paused my transaction to search the small purse of an employee who was leaving work for the day. The message being sent to that employee from “above” is quite simple, “We don’t trust you not to steal.” I suggested to the manager that employees might be less inclined to steal if they believed that their employer trusted them, to which he replied “It’s the system.” I proposed he do whatever was in his power to change that system. My guess is he won’t for fear of losing his own job.

What does this story tell you about the culture of the organization? How do companies expect any loyalty, any engagement or any longevity from their employees when they treat them like criminals? A few ideas for senior management….

  1. Do a better job screening your new hires
  2. Pay your employees a decent hourly wage
  3. Have a “one and done” policy on theft
  4. Keep your employee searches out of sight of your customers.

Have you participated in Trust Quest, our monthly “pulse” on trust?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust, and runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our annual poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning TRUST Inc. series. They are yours when you join our Alliance.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

 

 

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Jun
01

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Who is less trustworthy? Politicians or big business?

Trust Across America-Trust Around the World is taking its first monthly global “pulse” on trust via Trust Questa short, anonymous online question that can be completed in less than one minute.
This is YOUR chance to weigh in on how low trust is impacting you.
Please Take the survey and share the link. We will be reporting our findings later in June.
Your vote matters!

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust, and runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in the subject. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

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