Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

We all know that startup businesses have high failure rates. Just how high is open to debate but this graphic, showing them by industry, is worth a look. Trust holds the key to long-term business success and profitability, yet it remains the most frequently ignored business strategy. Without trust as a foundational element, the chances for long-term business survival are little to none.

Yesterday someone asked me to enumerate, from a “trust” perspective, ten sure-fire business failure warning signs. I’ll bet several are present in your organization.

1. Trust is taken for granted or viewed as a soft skill. There is no Chief Trust Officer (not to be confused with ethics or compliance. Trust is voluntary while compliance is regulated.)
2. Your corporate credo or core values are nonexistent, or the ones in place are simply “words” tossed up on a website.
3. Goals have yet to be defined, shared or agreed upon. Nor has a course been plotted with a one, three and five-year plan.
4. Leadership is focused on survival and short-term profitability only, instead of a unique corporate value proposition and the customer.
5. The “leader” lacks leadership skills. Worse yet, he is a total jerk and everyone knows it but him.
6. There is not a single woman in sight on the executive leadership team.
7. Everyone is a boss and no one is held accountable, resulting in a lack of consistency and a great deal of finger-pointing.
8. Board members are “Yes men” for the CEO, and “yes” they are all men.
9. There is lots of talk and little action, and everyone is always “very tired” from all the “hard” work.
10. A well-defined hiring strategy has not been implemented resulting in misalignment and inefficient staffing.

How many of these are present in your startup? Each one is an indicator that your business will fail.

We have published a brand-new 2015 poster listing 52 weekly actions you can take to build trust and secure and ensure long-term business success, drawing on expert advice from around the world. A donation of $10.00 (minimum $5.00) might hold the key to your long-term business success. Make the investment for the good of your organization and all your stakeholders. See you in 18 months!

Want to learn more about building organizational trust? Our award-winning 3-book TRUST Inc. series that can be ordered here,

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

Trust Across America- Trust Around the World’s

Year-End Letter (and what a year it’s been)

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We will close the year with almost 400,000 website visitors accessing close to 1.5 million pages of material, confirming that organizational trust is on the minds of many people worldwide, and so the “I” goal above has been met. We expect to continue this positive trend going forward.

The “You” phase began in late 2013, asking and answering the question “What cost-effective or free resources do you, our audience, need that will help you build trust?

To meet this objective we completed the following twelve projects in 2014:

• Published two additional books in our TRUST Inc. series, and our anchor book, won two national gold awards in business from Nautilus and Eric Hoffer.

• Continued to build the Business Case for Trust using our proprietary FACTS Framework as the foundation.

• Expanded our free You Tube Trust Talks video series which have been watched by thousands of people.

• Added several new free Building Trust Reports. Our Building Trust in Community Leadership Report has been downloaded almost 4000 times this month alone! One need only read the headlines to understand why. Print it and give it as a gift to your local Mayor or Police Chief.

• Launched our free living Trust Bibliography with the help of Bob Easton at Accenture. It’s the largest of its kind in the world and is updated every 6 months. Update coming soon.

• Hosted a series of regional Trust Circle breakfasts and luncheons, engaging in lively discussions and making new friends and business relationships.

• Spoke at colleges and conferences.

• Created a trustworthy leadership survey called the Leader’s Project and began to aggregate data and great stories.

• Launched TRUST! Magazine.

• Brought awareness to the topic of organizational trust with our first global TRUSTGiving Campaign in November, right before Thanksgiving.

• Organized our Alliance members into a Trust Speakers group to meet national and global demand.

• Published our 2015 Weekly Activities for Increasing Organizational Trust poster.

And now we are entering the “We” phase.

During 2014, our Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts continued to grow, and with each new member came a new trust perspective and more engagement. We collectively began to ask “How can we, as a growing Alliance, collaborate to meet the needs of our global audience?” This will be our focus in 2015 as we move into year #3 of the Alliance formation.

On January 1, 2015, our Alliance will be temporarily closing to new members, and we will maintain a waiting list. Some existing members will be invited back when their membership expires, while others will not. This will be based on shared interest and objectives as we move forward, and on specific areas of organizational trust expertise which may be lacking in our existing group.

If you are considering joining, please do so before the end of the year. All new members are vetted.

I wish each of you the best in 2015 for health, happiness, and more trust. I hope you have enjoyed getting to know us and choose to show your ongoing support for our very important work.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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.

Organizational Trust this Week is a new feature beginning with the “Good”, moving through the “Debatable” and occasionally ending with the “Ugly.” Each story contains a trust component and at least one lesson for organizations seeking to make trust a business imperative. This week’s news moves our focus away from business and in to trust in communities, government, the media and medicine.

THE GOOD

Building trust is not all that complicated regardless of whether the relationship is personal or professional. It all boils down to something that looks like character, competence and consistency with a bit of compassion on top.

This cop knows his trust “stuff” and should share it with our President. It would save the taxpayers a bundle!

Same goes for this civil rights attorney

By the way, did you know we released a new book this week in our award-winning TRUST Inc. book series?

 ORDER NOW

GIVE A GIFT OF TRUST THIS HOLIDAY

THE DEBATABLE

What is the media’s responsibility in building and busting trust (not only in itself, but its stakeholders?) After all, if the media is not reporting the facts, why not just watch reality TV and read comic books?

Can you trust those virtual doctor visits? This is new and exciting territory. Maybe someone should also invent virtual health insurance. I’ll bet the premiums would be a heck of a lot lower!

THE UGLY

Is high CEO pay an impediment to building trust?

What’s happened to trust in government since President Eisenhower? I love graphs. This one really does its job!

OUR MOST POPULAR POST THIS WEEK

And finally, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s most popular post on LinkedIn Pulse this week. If trust is low in your workplace, fix it!  Send us your stories for consideration in future editions of Organizational Trust this Week: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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 brand new magazine TRUST! makes the case that in Financial Services, Industry is NOT Destiny

   Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

For many of us, it’s the time of year when we wish for warm weather and the sound of crashing waves. Take a walk on the beach with Rob Galford as he maps out one of the trust-building activities contained in our new book, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust.

Rob is a Managing Partner of the Center for Leading Organizations, and a Leadership Fellow in Executive Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

A “Walk on the Beach” for Trust 

Not all of our business relationships are perfect.  In fact, too many of them are far from it.  Yet merely recognizing that reality doesn’t do anything for us, doesn’t make things better.  The quo remains status, conflicts are buried, “work-arounds” are devised, and while an easy (or uneasy) peace may reign, the underlying problem remains unresolved.  It doesn’t go away.  It becomes an opportunity missed.  And it doesn’t have to be that way.

The purpose of this assignment and subsequent action is to provide you with an opportunity to focus on improving one or more of your important working relationships in a way that has not occurred before. The first part of the process entails completing six key questions in advance.  You will then spend some uninterrupted time with your counterpart in a setting away from the workplace, a so-called “walk on the beach”, where you will describe and discuss your respective responses to the key questions.   While at the outset there may naturally be a sense of apprehension, risk or discomfort in addressing things so directly, it will be apparent upon completion just how much has been accomplished merely by having had the conversation.

There are four prerequisites for a successful experience and a worthwhile outcome.

1. A belief that a relationship has the possibility of improvement.  If you firmly, deeply, truly believe there really is zero chance of improving a particular relationship that, in effect, you are “done with it”, then don’t spend the time doing this.  The very fact that the other person might hold out some hope for the relationship, or is willing to do this walk may help you reconsider your view.  If it does not, be ready to discuss with them why you are unwilling to try.

Learn more about all four prerequisites and how to complete your walk on the beach by following the link below.  The book contains 51 other activities and inspirations (a full year) that are certain to not only reverse the cycle of mistrust in your workplace, but enable trust to flourish.

ORDER NOW

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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. Leave a comment or send her a note at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

How many times a week do you wake up dreading the workday ahead?

You are hardly alone. The vast majority of employees are disengaged from their jobs, their coworkers and their bosses. In fact, rarely a day passes without a call, a note, or a media headline regarding the fallout of low workplace trust. It destroys:

• Employee engagement & retention
• Innovation
• Productivity
• Speed of decisions
• Profitability

Most problems, even this one, are not too big to fix and collaboration is a powerful tool. In our brand new book, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust, our Alliance members and colleagues joined forces to compile 52 weeks (a full year) of activities and inspirations that are certain to not only reverse the cycle of mistrust in your workplace, but enable trust to flourish. What a great way to improve your life and that of your co-workers!

Whether it is leadership, teamwork, culture, crisis or inter-organizational trust,  the activities and inspirations in our new book are designed to help you. There are activities to enhance trust through:

• Listening
• Vulnerability
• Self-awareness
• Alignment
• Experimentation
• Shared motivation
• Identification of destructive behaviors
• Self accountability
• Role playing
• Transparency

and many others.

Why not give the gift of trust to your co-workers and friends this holiday season? Perhaps by this time next year, we can be discussing how much trust has improved in our respective workplaces.

ORDER NOW

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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. Leave a comment or send her a note at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Dr. Seuss

December is “Trust” Month

according to Trust Across America’s

2014 Calendar

Trustworthy business is not about quarterly earnings and international expansion, but rather about building long-term trust with all stakeholders.

During the  52 weeks of 2014 we have provided weekly inspirations on trust. We hope you have enjoyed the series. Some final thoughts:

The Swedish word for trust “tillit” is a palindrome, highlighting the reciprocal nature of trust. Kaj Török,Futerra Sustainability Communications, Sweden

Trust is built when a group holds each other accountable for their shared values. Bob Vanourek, Vanourek & Partners, LLC

If you want to see more trust, show more trust. Bob Whipple, CEO Leadergrow Inc.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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.

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

As a colleague reminded me yesterday, it’s been five years since the official “birth” of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World and during that time I have learned many lessons about what trust is and what it isn’t. I hope you enjoy this short “facts of trust” list. Which of these most resonates with you? What facts would you add?

1. Everyone defines “trust”, “trusted” and “trustworthy” according to their own standards, not a universally accepted benchmark.
2. Most people take trust for granted instead of “working” it into their daily agenda, through actions more than words.
3. Instant rapport should not be confused with trust, nor should brand loyalty.
4. When trust is tested, extend a second chance, but listen to what both your heart and your gut are telling you.
5. There is no lie detector test equivalent for trust, but character, competence and consistency are great indicators.
6. There will be betrayals and trust breaches. Use them as learning experiences.
7. Standards should never be lowered nor integrity compromised for any reason, especially money.
8. Trust is voluntary while compliance is regulatory. Don’t confuse what’s right with what’s legal.
9. Trust cannot be restored if it never existed. It also can’t be broken in an instant if the existing foundation is strong.
10. Every organization should have a Chief Trust Officer who works across silos, ensuring that the trust needs of all internal and external stakeholders are met.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Our brand new magazine TRUST! makes the case that in Financial Services, Industry is NOT Destiny

We will be publishing our third book at the end of November.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

Under the theory that trust is built over time and in incremental steps, Ronald Reagan’s famous quote “Trust but verify” is a great one. It implies that as trust is being built, it’s important to keep your eye on the ball to ensure it is real and growing.

I also like the “Love all, trust a few” quote by William Shakespeare that may be more true now then when it was originally written.

Another good trust quote by “Unknown” is “Big or small, lies are lies.” No explanation needed for this one. There is simply no such thing as a little lie.

But this is the trust quote that I read most frequently, and also the one that does trust the biggest disservice.

“Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair” (also by Unknown)

This is simply not true.

1. Trust does NOT take years to build. While it is built in incremental steps, trust can occur very quickly if both parties consistently display good character and competence.

2. Trust CANNOT be broken in seconds if the relationship has a strong foundation of trust. It can only be broken quickly if the foundation is weak.

3. Trust DOESN’T ALWAYS take forever to repair. If trust is “banked” prior to a breach, the time it takes to repair it will be much shorter. This applies to both interpersonal and organizational trust.

Please don’t trivialize trust by using quotes that “just sound good.” Trust is the foundation upon which all great relationships are built. Let’s treat it with the care it deserves.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

                                                                                                 Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Welcome to TRUSTGiving 2014, our first annual weeklong trust awareness campaign.  Join the Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts as our members help our readers navigate the complexities of trust. We will be blogging (several times a day) and posting on Twitter #TrustGiving2014.

Holly Latty- Mann has some further advice for building trust during meetings.

You may have caught an earlier post regarding opportunities to build trust at the onset of your weekly management or departmental meeting. Because people tend to remember the first and final activities of meetings, let’s now take a look at tangible ways you can end your team meetings that can promote a more meaningful trust level between and among your team members. Again the activities take on the nature of willful sharing, and as such can serve as a crude measure of your company culture within the context of interpersonal comfort and social trust. 

The end-of-meeting activity is purposefully shorter and lighter than the onset checking-in activity so that even the most reserved team members feel they have a viable place to engage.  With time these more reticent respondents may ultimately share at a deeper level such as the challenges of having a special needs child at home. This is when team members begin experiencing one another as real live human beings with a heartbeat. Team members invariably begin reaching out to one another in a show of support, even sharing similar experiences within their own life.

Consider the following brief activities to end your meeting. The content can either convey familial caring or offer a welcomed sense of levity. Either way, you can begin forging meaningful human connections with one another through these small, caring gestures:

►End with a quote, as most quotes impart a wisdom regarding how to enhance life and living,

►Offer meaningful information or tips such as the 4-7-8 breathing exercise to help manage stress,

► Share a brief human interest story (maybe your own), news item, or even a joke or recipe, and

►Invite other team members to share their favorite quote, tips, restaurants, and such. 

The degree of team sharing carries its commensurate level of team trust.  When we break momentarily from “work as usual,” we’re acknowledging the human side of one another where humor, sensitivity, and a certain sacred spirituality reside.  We are acknowledging the poet, the parent, the philosopher, and adventurer in one another among many other possibilities when we share from a diversity of resources. When we engage one another on a human level that forgets titles and job roles, we are providing the kind of psychological milieu that allows the spillover of good will and trust to permeate all interpersonal relationship dynamics throughout the organization and beyond.

Holly Latty-Mann, PhD, president and owner of The Leadership Trust®, uses her two doctorates in psychology to heighten and crystallize self-awareness and emotional intelligence at root-cause level. Her holistic, integrative model extends to the team and organizational levels to embolden trust-based collaborative efforts, thereby expediting both the creation and delivery of her clients’ innovative products and services. Contact Holly and learn more through leadershiptrust.org/info@leadershiptrust.org.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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.

Trust is the core issue impacting organizational, team and leadership effectiveness. Noreen Kelly, Noreen Kelly Communication (from Trust Across America’s Weekly Reflections on Trust 2014)

Organizational Trust this Week is a new feature beginning with the “Good”, moving through the “Debatable” and occasionally ending with the “Ugly.” Each story contains a trust component and at least one lesson for organizations seeking to make trust a business imperative.

THE GOOD

Do you lead with trust? This is your opportunity to be heard and seen!

Our #TRUSTGiving2014 campaign is coming to a close and our Alliance members covered the importance of trust from A-Z with guest blog posts this week.

Got good customer service? Only if trust is a component.

THE DEBATABLE

What is the role of trust in cyber security? This article makes the case.

THE UGLY

When the trust certifiers can’t be trusted, we have a real issue!

Are you an Uber user? Their CEO thumbs his nose at trust.

Trust gets messy when employees don’t feel respected. Can you blame them?

OUR MOST POPULAR POST THIS WEEK

And finally, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s most popular post on LinkedIn Pulse this week. Sometimes it’s the simple stuff that matters. In this one, we get back to basics and a simpler time. Send us your stories for consideration in future editions of Organizational Trust this Week: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL! The holidays are a great time to have a conversation about trust.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. 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.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Our brand new magazine TRUST! makes the case that in Financial Services, Industry is NOT Destiny

We will be publishing our third book at the end of November.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.