Sooner or later every executive realizes that 99 percent of the people she depends on for success don't report to her. The success of every CEO depends far more on vendors, stockholders, board members, regulators, politicians, strategic partners, the financial community, the media, and customers than it does on the relatively small number of paid employees that report to her either directly or indirectly. Leadership relies on persuasion and persuasion relies on trust. As another example, few people realize that the all-important corporate profit-and-loss statement (P&L) contains no cash or real money. It consists primarily of accounts receivable and accounts payable, which in turn are merely the promises that others make to pay us and the promises we make to pay others at some future date. Without the trust that underlies these promises commerce would grind to a halt.
My experience with the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey holds some valuable lessons on how to get and maintain trust.
- Become Trustworthy. We are hardwired to seek out trust- worthy people, and to test others to see whom we can trust. But the first step is to become trustworthy ourselves. Like attracts like, and if you invest in becoming a person others can trust people whom you can trust will be attracted to you.
Trust is the most powerful form of capital there is, and nothing makes a business run more smoothly than trust. In addition, trust is not a scarce resource. Like Mepkin, we can all have more of it than we need. Warren Buffett has spent his life accumulating trust, and this trust is directly responsible for the "Buffett Discount" he often gets when he buys a company. Sellers know that he will treat them honorably, and this is so valuable that they are willing to accept Buffett's offer even when richer offers are on the table. However, while trust is not a scarce resource, it is a fragile asset. Once squandered it may be impossible to regain.
The above is an adapted from my book Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO's Quest for Meaning and Authenticity by August Turak.