Trust Works

Here’s a sample of quotations from my HKUST students’ experiences with trust. Note the obvious point (#1) that being trusted by their leader made them want to work harder (“compelled” them to in fact, as one put it):

"I am a hard worker as a rule of thumb but Alex’s trust in me made me work even harder, because I did not want to disappoint him."

"Since Bob put his trust in me, I made sure that I would not fail."

"I wanted to show to my boss and my client that their trust would pay off and I started to throw myself into the project."

"This trust gave me more confidence in myself, which encouraged me to do even better and gave me a sense of power."

"...how excited I was to work with him because I felt that he trusted my abilities. Not only did I feel compelled to reciprocate Wilson’s trust but I also felt empowered to explore new avenues."

"I felt empowered and trusted at the same time, but also scared. It made me want to work hard in order to show that I deserved this trust."

"I learned to trust in their job performance because at the beginning I was checking every single analysis they did, but I noticed how they got angry with me because I didn’t let them conclude anything by themselves. I showed trust to build trust."

The second observation is more subtle: These experiences cross over any demarcations of gender, nationality, and function/discipline. Could you guess which one is from a Mexican-American woman, a Chinese-American women, a Danish man, a Chinese woman, a German man, a Norwegian woman, or a Mexican woman? Which experiences come from the field of management consulting, construction engineering, environmental justice, public relations, or financial services?

Point #2 is that trust is not a particularly American or European or Asian idea per se but fundamental to all relationships. Leaders understand and learn to go first when it comes to being trustworthy and building trust – you have to “show trust to build trust.”

I trust you got these points.

Barry