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Posts Tagged ‘charles green’

Jul
24

 

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I struggled earlier to find a topic for today’s blog post, and then one was literally dropped right at my feet.

My friend Charlie Green likes to say  “I trust my dog with my life, but not so much with my ham sandwich.”

Several years ago we rescued this silly guy from Pennsylvania where he spent most of his puppy days running free on a farm without much supervision or training. He’s a happy dog and very loyal to my husband in every way but one. He loves to steal his shoes. And sometimes…well,  he eats them. And each time this happens, my husband blames the dog. In truth, he’s been given so many opportunities to eat shoes that, at this point, the dog thinks it’s a game and an okay response when he finds them laying around the house.

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As we all know, trust is a pretty complex subject and there are different types of trust. Some are based on competence, others on honesty. Many are situational. For example:

  • You might trust Target to have the best selection, but not with your credit card information.
  • You might trust your doctor to manage your health but not necessarily to manage your investment portfolio.
  • You might trust your mother to keep a secret but not to cook a gourmet meal.
  • And finally, you might trust your dog with your life, but not with your shoes 🙂

What are some other examples of situational trust? Leave a comment.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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If you would like to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

 

 

 

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Jul
17

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Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books. The book, TRUST INC. Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts and is divided into six chapters:

  1. Why Trust Matters
  2. Trust in Practice
  3. Trustworthy Leadership
  4. Building Trustworthy Teams
  5. Restoring Trust
  6. The Future of Trust

For the next six days, our blog will extract highlights from each chapter. Each one can serve as an excellent resource in helping leaders understand why trust matters, and provide tools for those who choose to implement trust building programs in their organization. We know our readers love lists. Today’s blog contains five.

Charles H. Green & Barbara Brooks Kimmel discuss “Trustworthiness in Action” and offer a “Top Ten List” of how companies can increase trustworthiness.

#1 Trustworthy leadership – Very simply, a culture of trust cannot exist with an untrustworthy leader. 

#2 Transformation – Productivity and execution begin when the CEO creates a set of values and goals that are shared, accepted and adopted by all stakeholders. 

#3Tools – There are many trust tools CEOs can use to build trust with their internal and external stakeholders. These run the gamut from metrics and assessments to online surveys. 

#4 Treatment– The Golden Rule says to “treat others the way you want to be treated.” This certainly holds true for trust. 

#5 Teamwork – Teamwork leads to better decisions and better outcomes. Teams create trust, and trust creates teams.

#6 Talk – Your stakeholders need to know what steps you are taking to build a trustworthy organization. Quarterly numbers are no longer the be all and end all. 

#7 Truth – Truth-telling is at the core of trust. Any CEO who wants to build a trustworthy organization must have an extremely comfortable relationship with the truth. 

#8 Time – Building a culture of trustworthy business does not happen overnight. It takes time, maybe even years – but not decades. 

#9 Transparency – Merriam Webster defines “transparent” as visibility or accessibility of information, especially with business practices. Any CEO who thinks he or she can still hide behind a veil of secrecy need only spend a few minutes on social media reading what their stakeholders are saying. 

#10 Thoughtful – Not all stakeholders need to know the company’s trade secrets, or what the CEO had for dinner. But if your company is serious about increasing trustworthiness, consider engaging all your stakeholders in rich, thoughtful conversations. 

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In “What Does a Trustworthy Company Look Like” Peter Firestein addresses how you know a trustworthy company when you see one.

By far the best assessment of whether a company is worthy of trust lies in an answer to the question: “Who trusts it?”

  • A trusted company’s shares trade at a premium to its competitors’ based on investors’ expectations of strong performance in the future. This expectation, itself, is a matter of belief in customers’ trust in its products, lenders’ trust in its judgment, and regulators’ trust in its practices.
  • When unwanted events occur, a trusted company receives the benefit of the doubt until the facts can be established. It is not assumed to be in the wrong.
  • A trusted company attracts the best available employees, helping to ensure that it will continue to hold the trust of stakeholders into the next generation.
  • A trusted company’s practices and strategies are adopted by other companies wishing to emulate its success. Those strategies enter the curricula of business schools to be studied and adapted.
  • Concentration on the continued worthiness of a trusted company is spread evenly across all levels of the company’s hierarchy. Maintaining and strengthening trust in the company is a career-long preoccupation of virtually everyone who works there.

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In “Making Your Values Real to Enable Trust” Jeffrey Thomson discusses two ways to make trust tangible:

How do you make your organizational values real and foundational to building trust, organizational health, and creating great business outcomes? Two very simple suggestions:

  1. The CEO, not a committee or consultant, must set the core values.  Why? Tone at the top.  Genuine, authentic and sustained exemplary behaviors are required and should be expected from the leader and the leadership team. 
  2. Make the effort to inculcate the core values into on-going performance reviews and appraisal processes to drive regular, often tough, conversations about the behaviors (the “how”) that lead to the accomplishments (the “what”).  

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In “Choosing Candor the Language of Trust” Laura Rittenhouse discusses three levels of CEO Candor.

Just Talk:  AMD 2011 Shareholder Letter Introduction

AMD enters 2012 firmly focused on becoming a solid execution engine, while positioning ourselves to take advantage of growth opportunities driven by a fundamental shift in the computing ecosystem. 

Real Talk:  Lockheed Martin 2011 Shareholder Letter Introduction

This is a milestone year for Lockheed Martin: our 100th anniversary. Our company’s success over the past century is due to the exceptional character and ingenuity of the hundreds of thousands of people who have walked through the doors of our heritage companies. As this remarkable enterprise begins its second century, we and our customers face unprecedented global security challenges and an uncertain economic environment.

Transforming Talk:  Eaton Corporation 2011 Shareholder Letter Introduction

In 1911, young entrepreneur Joseph Oriel Eaton staked his future on a transformational axle for the fledgling U.S. trucking industry. He bet upon a megatrend — that the transportation industry would become a hallmark of American industry and our economy. And he was right.

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And finally Robert & Gregg Vanourek address how “Stewards Build Trust” and  provide a partial list of trust busters.

Trust is complex. Many behaviors can undermine trust. Below is a partial list of “trust busters”:

  1. Abusive behavior
  2. Accountability lacking
  3. Appreciation lacking
  4. Arbitrary use of power
  5. Blaming
  6. Commitments not met
  7. Communication poor or secretive
  8. Compensation plans encourage inappropriate behavior
  9. Controls/processes lacking or excessive
  10. Corner cutting to get results

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peak into the trust treasures contained in our book. Did I mention that it has won both a Nautilus Business Book and Eric Hoffer Grand Business Prize Award? Tomorrow I’ll pull some similar gems from Trust in Practice. Check back with us soon.

If you have enjoyed this brief look behind the door, follow this link to order the book online.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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If you would like to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

 

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May
01

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May is “Teamwork” Month 

according to Trust Across America’s

 

2014 Calendar

 

Teamwork leads to better decisions and better outcomes. Teams create trust, and trust creates teams, especially when silos are broken down.

During the  52 weeks of 2014 you can build trust in your organization by thinking about, discussing and following the advice of the experts. Below are four reflections on trust for the 4 weeks in May 2014.

Week 1: People now trust one in four companies on average, making its scarcity in the marketplace an object of value. John Gerzema, BAV Consulting @JohnGerzema

Week 2: The most trust-destroying thing you can say is, “trust me.” Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates @CharlesHGreen

Week 3: Building trust creates a premium value for product brands as well as enterprise value for the corporate brand. James R. Gregory, CoreBrand @Corebrand

 Week 4: Trust is the core issue impacting organizational, team and leadership effectiveness. Noreen Kelly, Noreen Kelly Communication @NoreenJKelly

Please share your comments and suggestions! Email: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Barbara Brooks Kimmel, Executive Director, Trust Across America – Trust Around the World

Editor  Trust Inc. Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset (a 2014 Nautilus Book Award winner)

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Dec
17

How does one say “Thank you” to friends and colleagues who have helped foster trustworthy relationships?

We hope you enjoy our 2014 Weekly Reflections on Organizational Trust, another collaborative effort of the contributors to our new book  Trust Inc., our Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts, and friends of Trust Across America – Trust Around the World. (Listed alphabetically)

If you are receiving this gift, we know that trust is important to you, and we hope you will share it with your audience.

Thank you to all who have assisted Trust Across America – Trust Around the World in building organizational trust.

May we continue to make progress in 2014.

With much gratitude and trust!

Barbara Brooks Kimmel

PS- This poster prints 11×14.

 2014TrustPoster

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Jan
03

News Release

For Immediate Release

For Additional Information contact:

Barbara Kimmel

Executive Director

Trust Across America

908-879-6625

 

Trust in Business Essential for 2013:

Global Experts Join Forces to Combat Trust Crisis

 

Chester, N.J.  January 3, 2013—After a well-documented 10+ years of declining trust in government, business and the media, Trust Across America (TAA) (www.trustacrossamerica.com) and its ambassadors are launching the Campaign for Trust™, a two-year initiative to reverse this cycle.  “As the leaders in information, standards, data and the Who’s Who of trustworthy business, this is the next step in our initiative that began in 2009,” said Barbara Brooks Kimmel, a Co-founder and the Executive Director.

In the fourth quarter of 2012 TAA created The Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts (ATBE) to collaborate in advancing the cause of trustworthy business through the creation of trust tools and communications outreach. Over 100 global thought leaders from Fortune 500 companies; leading academic institutions; global media and consulting have joined since the mid-October launch.

Much of the work of the alliance will be via strategic partnerships with our Founding Members listed alphabetically: Patricia Aburdene (Co-author of Megatrends 2000); William Benner (WW Consulting); Randy Conley (The Ken Blanchard Companies); Stephen M.R. Covey (Franklin Covey-Speed of Trust); Linda Fisher Thornton (Leading in Context); Bahar Gidwani (CSRHub); Charles Green (Trusted Advisor Associates); Nadine Hack (beCause Global Consulting); Michael Hopkins (MHC International); Gary Judd (Franklin Covey-Speed of Trust); Barbara Kimmel (Trust Across America); Jim Kouzes (The Leadership Challenge); Deb Krizmanich (Powernoodle); Mike Krzus (Co-author of One Report); Greg Link (Franklin Covey-Speed of Trust); Linda Locke (Reputare Consulting); Edward Marshall (Author Building Trust at the Speed of Change); Jon Mertz (Thin Difference); Deb Mills-Scofield (Innovanomics™); Robert Vanourek (Triple Crown Leadership); and Bob Whipple (Leadergrow Inc.).

According to Kimmel, “We will be assembling a Trust Toolbox™ in 2013 to assist businesses in building trust with their stakeholders. Collaborative projects in development include the publication of a book- Trust Inc.: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, a collection of short essays from our global thought leaders; the Trust Directory™ designed for companies who seek advice and counsel; the creation of trust assessments; the development of a Trust Index™; educational Trust Talks™; a monthly publication called the Trust Sheet ™, announcing trust alliance member news from around the world; and the opening of our online Trust Store™, a virtual one-stop shop for trust products.”

Kicking off the campaign will be the January 14 announcement of Trust Across America’s 3rd annual Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business. Our 2013 recognition list will honor the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey, whose professional accomplishments in the field of trust were instrumental to the founding of the Trust Across America initiative four years ago.

According to Amy Lyman co-founder of Great Place to Work Institute and author of The Trustworthy Leader, “The evidence is irrefutable. Cultures of trust, created by leaders who are credible, respectful and fair bring with them significant economic, social, community and environmental benefits. It is what every employee wants and what every business leader should strive for.” Trust Across America, through its new trust alliance, hopes to develop the requisite tools to enhance cultures of trust, and encourages those interested in furthering the cause of trustworthy business to join the alliance. trustacrossamerica.com/cgi-bin/alliance.cgi

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Jan
30

Last week’s  release of the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer www.edelman.com/trust has prompted much discussion in the news . Edelman sampled over 5000 people in 23 countries. Highlights of their survey, for our purposes focusing on US business, are as follows:

1. Trust is now an essential line of business

2. Trust in US business to do what is “right” dropped 8 percent

3. Trust in the US media to do what is “right” dropped 11%

4. Trust in the following US industries decreased from 2008-2011:

                – Technology- down 5%

                – Banks- down 46%

5. Trust in Automotive increased 17%

6. The most trustworthy industries in rank order are:

                -Technology

                -Automotive

                -Telecommunications

7. The least trustworthy industries, starting with the worst are:

                -Financial

                -Banks

                -Insurance

Charles H. Green at Trusted Advisor Associates www.trustedadvisor.com followed the release of the survey with an excellent blog post “Can You Trust the Data on Trust?” that explores the meaning of the word “trust” and how data can be interpreted in various ways:

trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters/can-you-trust-the-data-on-trust

As Charlie notes, the Edelman Survey is an opinion poll while Trust Across America (TAA) www.trustacrossamerica.com  uses quantitative data to assess the trustworthiness of American business. Both are important, but TAA’s findings are somewhat different than Edelman’s, especially in terms of the trustworthiness of various industries, as a whole.

Our data segments the largest 3000 companies into 16 sectors. While they cannot be fully aligned with Edelman’s industry categories, they are close enough to make several observations. Utilities, retail/wholesale and auto represent our most trustworthy sectors, while oils/energy, finance and transportation are the least trustworthy.

Edelman’s findings include estimates of how much people trust varies by industry. In our data, we have found that industry is not destiny; there is considerable room for individual company variation in trustworthiness. For example, technology is just slightly above average as a group. But when we delve a bit deeper into our data, the findings reveal something more interesting- thirteen of our Top 59 Gold List Companies www.trustacrossamerica.com/documents/media/PressArticle-v9.pdf are in the technology sector, lead by Lexmark www.lexmark.com , Texas Instruments www.ti.com , Analog Devices www.analog.com  and Teradyne www.teradyne.com– that’s over 20%. 

No one can argue with Edelman that trust is an essential line of business, and if trust in business to do what is right is down, we must find ways to reverse this cycle of mistrust. Quantitative data and surveys are certainly useful, but until CEOs acknowledge the trust crisis and agree to examine the data, we don’t see much changing in the short term. In other words, talking is fine, but moving the needle is essential.  

Trust Across America’s challenge to the C-Suite for 2011: The opinion surveys are out and our quantitative data does not lie. Very few companies have adopted  trust as a corporate culture.  Collectively, you have the power to reverse the downtrend in trust. Study your worst practices and improve them. Communicate your actions with your stakeholders. Get the needle moving in the right direction.

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May
17

Our first blog interview was conducted with Charlie Green who provided some excellent responses to the following questions. The complete interview can be read at: Complete Interview

1) Tell us a bit about your background, qualifications and expertise.
2) Trust Across America’s mission is to rebuild trustworthy behavior in America, starting with public companies. How would you generally define trustworthy behavior?
3) What are some of the specific components of trustworthy behavior in your opinion?
4) We all know that the erosion of trust is a big problem in corporate America. What are companies doing to combat this, and is it enough?
5) Is the “trust” climate in corporate America improving or worsening? What actions will turn things around?
6) Can you provide a few examples of companies that are doing the “right” thing in your opinion? What steps are being taken by these companies?

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