Traveling Trust, Reciprocating Trust

I was in Munich for a one-day stopover en route to Bucharest. I left New York a day earlier than planned to avoid some weather. And I realized yet again – travel has a way of doing that – what an extraordinary level of trust we all take for granted in our modern world.

Yes, the news is full of the opposite. Doctors have a hard time trusting pharmaceutical manufacturers. Patients have a hard time trusting their doctors, and doctors have a hard time trusting their patients. Some patients trust the internet more than their doctors, often with bad results. And trust in most institutions is down over time (the military being a notable exception).

A Trusted Trip

With all that going on, it’s easy to forget some basic things. I can freely cross national borders with some mere papers. I can trust the exchange rate when I buy Euros. I can trust the flight controllers that govern the airspace, the airline handling companies that do catering, the bus and taxi systems I encounter.

But most of all, I know I can rely deeply on the basic human decency of people I run into to help with any simple issues – even though we may not speak the same language, and we’ll never see each other again. I can trust that people will give me directions, help me with travel issues, take a moment to help sort out a problem. And I’m almost never, ever wrong in that basic level of trust.

Which motivates me, of course, to try and return the favor whenever I can. And you do the same, I know.

What’s Really Amazing

What’s really amazing is not how often trust goes wrong, but how often it goes right.  Our modern life is unbelievably complex, and yet runs remarkably well.

I don’t want to be Pollyana-ish about this. The fact that trust is so pervasive is precisely the reason we notice and feel trust violations so deeply. We are all right to be deeply offended by untrustworthy behavior; if we lose our capacity to be outraged, we have lost our ability to recover.

Lots of things can be said about lost trust, but I want to highlight one. Trust is reciprocal. My trusting you causes you to trust me, and vice versa. An absence of trust starts with one party. The presence of trust starts with one party. The question facing all of us is, will you be the one to start?  Or will you always insist on the other party going first?

Do you insist on your vendors insuring you against all losses?  Then don’t be surprised when they don’t trust you.  Do you have all your employees sign cutting-edge non-compete clauses?  Then perhaps you can understand why they might seek ways around it.  Do you give lie detector tests to your employees? Then you might gain insight into why you have a shrinkage problem.

You can do your part as an individual too. To be trusted, be trustworthy.  And if you think others are not trustworthy as you – try trusting them first.

For starters, that’ll make your travel a lot easier.

10 replies
  1. Richard Moroney
    Richard Moroney says:

    Charlie–another home run article here! It isn’t Pollyana-ish to wearing your rose-colored glasses, though, because you need that perspective to start the virtuous cycle of trust. Just don’t forget to verify that your trust is well placed.

    Sometimes the noise–and our focus on the short term–makes it harder to see the bigger picture like this. I have traveled the world enough to know that America is still great even if there are many areas left to improve upon.

    Reply
  2. John Gies
    John Gies says:

    Charlie,

    I always enjoy your point of view. In this post what strikes me is that as people become risk adverse, they come across as untrusting (Perhaps they are).Your point about non-competes is an example. Te organization is afraid of the risk that someone will walk off wit customers so they write these crazy clauses. When if the company focused on delivering value to their customers, they would keep the customers regardless of where the individual goes.

    Be well,

    Reply
  3. John Gies
    John Gies says:

    Charlie,

    I always enjoy your point of view. In this post what strikes me is that as people become risk adverse, they come across as untrusting (Perhaps they are).Your point about non-competes is an example. Te organization is afraid of the risk that someone will walk off wit customers so they write these crazy clauses. When if the company focused on delivering value to their customers, they would keep the customers regardless of where the individual goes.

    Be well,

    Reply
  4. Richard Moroney
    Richard Moroney says:

    Charlie–another home run article here! It isn’t Pollyana-ish to wearing your rose-colored glasses, though, because you need that perspective to start the virtuous cycle of trust. Just don’t forget to verify that your trust is well placed.

    Sometimes the noise–and our focus on the short term–makes it harder to see the bigger picture like this. I have traveled the world enough to know that America is still great even if there are many areas left to improve upon.

    Reply

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