Bidirectional Trust

Anita Brick: Hi, this is Anita Brick, and welcome to CareerCast at Chicago Booth. To help you advance in your career. Today we're delighted–I mean super delighted–to be speaking with Stephen M. R. Covey. He's the co-founder and CEO of CoveyLink and of the Franklin Covey Global Trust practice, and the author of The New York Times bestseller book, The SPEED of Trust, which I'm sure many of you have read. And his latest book, which is called Trust and Inspire. Totally love it. He is a global advisor on trust, leadership, ethics, culture, and collaboration. A Harvard MBA, he is the former CEO of Covey Leadership Center, which under his stewardship became the largest leadership development company in the world. He resides with his wife and children in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. What a lovely place to be.

And Stephen, I know you're a super busy guy, so thank you so much for making time for us today.

Stephen M. R. Covey: You are welcome, Anita. Thrilled to be with you and to be on CareerCast.

Anita Brick: So there were a lot of questions that came in from students, alums, and other listeners. But I'd like to start with a question really about you.

Of all the topics, all the subtopics under leadership, why did you decide to focus on trust specifically?

Stephen M. R. Covey: Because I earned the insights from my own experience, almost a crucible experience when I'd been running the Covey Leadership Center established by my father, initially took it all throughout the world, built a high trust team, high trust culture, and then we merged with our arts competitor, Franklin Quest, to form Franklin Covey. And these are two good entities coming together, two good companies, good people, good values. And yet we'd been arch competitors for years. And suddenly in this combined entity, there is distrust everywhere. Not because we'd really done things to lose the trust, it's just that we came at the world from such different angles and had such a different perspective on everything that we were trying to do.

It divided into two camps, the Franklin Camp and the Covey Camp, and distrust between the two. And I saw firsthand the high cost of low trust, how everything took longer. Everything costs more. We became disconnected from our customers. We started to just be internally focused only. Everything was politicized and we couldn't collaborate, innovate very well. And we saw first-hand high costs of low trust.

We recognized it. We began to see our problem here in this merger–is not the idea of the merger. Our problem here is that we don't trust each other. And so we began to intentionally work on building a high trust team, high trust culture, and not just assuming there would happen. And we had to work at it. And we did. And we became deliberate. And we built that trust internally. And when we built that trust, it changed everything. Suddenly we could really start to collaborate in ways that we hadn't been able to before. We were able to innovate in new and different ways. We engaged our people, we inspired them. And then that rippled out into the marketplace with customers. It changed everything for us.

Coming out of that experience, I recognized, you know, a couple of key things. First, trust matters enormously, and we all kind of know it at one level. But I saw firsthand the high cost and low trust and the tremendous return of high trust. Second, that trust is movable. You can increase trust on purpose. You can be intentional about building it because that's where we were. We had low trust and we became intentional to build a high trust team, a high trust culture, and we did do it. We moved the needle. And third, we could scale this and that we could continue the ascent and grow this.

And this experience really was a crucible for me because in this process, you know, half the people didn't trust me. I was right there. I was at the epicenter of this, but I built the trust back with people, or maybe for the first time with people, and it changed everything. I came from that saying, I think we are underestimating trust by a factor of ten, maybe by a factor of 100 in organizations today. And I think that it's been treated either too simplistically – just trust everyone. Pollyanna-ish. Or maybe sometimes too academically, not practical and tangible enough. And I felt like I had something to say about how trust can be built on purpose, and how building trust changes everything, and really quantifying the economics of trust. And it was from that experience that I said I found my voice to talk about trust.

Anita Brick: Clearly you have it is so important and yet there's so much mistrust. One of the students asked, okay, in the realities of the workplace, how do you implement this when it's not always clear who is trustworthy and who is not?

Stephen M. R. Covey: That's always a challenge. It's a challenge in society. It's a challenge in an organization, on a team, even in a relationship. Are the other people trustworthy? How do you know? So the best way I know to approach it is to look in the mirror. Trust is built from the inside out. And so while yes, I do need to know and understand how trustworthy other people are, so I know how much trust to extend. Where I can start is making sure that I'm unconditionally trustworthy of who I am. And I focus on me and my credibility, my character, my competence, so that I give to others a person who they can trust so that it's smart to trust me. And I begin to ripple out from me to my relationships one on one. And I try to build trust in those relationships and try to build trust on the team. And then I tried to build trust with the other teams we interact with, and I ripple out. So think of a ripple effect metaphor with a drop. Water comes down, the ripples, the waves. They start at the inside. They move out. The very first wave is self trust, which moves to relationship trust which moves to team trust which moves to organizational trust, which then ripples out in the marketplace, which then ripples out in all of society.

The way to go about this is inside out. And yes, I still have to have good judgment as I decide who I can trust and who I can't fully. But I want to make sure that it's clear that I can be trusted as a leader. I also have learned this, that in the decision of extending trust to other people, look at their trustworthiness.

But let's also distinguish between character and competence. It's harder to trust someone who is really low in character. Maybe a lack of integrity and is self serving. That’s a tougher issue. But someone might have strong character, but just not skilled yet, or not ready to take everything on. The very act of extending that person trust might be what enables them to develop the capabilities.

Trusting others is not a one size fits all. It's good judgment, but you're assessing the situation, the risk involved, and the credibility of the people involved. Find the ways that you can become more trusting, because the very act of extending trust is how you’ll build trust. It comes back to you there. There's a reciprocity of trust. And so while there is a risk in trusting people, consider that there's also a risk in not trusting people.

Because when you don't trust, people become disengaged and they don't reciprocate the trust back. They tend to not trust you. If you don't trust them. Either way, there's a little bit of a risk to trust or not to trust. And I find that not trusting in many situations, maybe in most, is perhaps the greater risk. Certainly with our own people, our own teams.

Better to start with trust until proven otherwise than the other way around, because we'll be waiting too long and we've got to move faster. And you can't do that if you're not willing to be trusting.

Anita Brick: Totally true. One of the students, actually, he's about to graduate. He feels like he is promoting trust. And he said, I currently work for a company at a location that is not the headquarters.

I feel that I do a lot to promote trust and it's not working. How does one recognize if a company culture inhibits trust building? So again, it sounds like they're putting it outside of them rather than inside. What are some indicators that you’re starting on the inside is starting to have a positive effect on the outside. Sounds like he feels like he's trusting himself and trusting others in promoting trust, but it's not working.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Yeah, it's understandable and natural to look outside and say, gosh, they've got to change for this to really have impact. But he's starting right in a sense that he's looking in the mirror first, starting with himself. And that's the right starting point. Sometimes we just have to be persistent, stay at it. But I've also learned this. If you can frame trust issues in economic terms so that people recognize that this is not some nice to have social virtue of saying, let's build trust on our team. And, you know, and we'll sing Kumbaya together. For for many people, when you say the word trust, that's what they're thinking. Many people see it as a a soft, nice to have social virtue. If you can frame it as this is part of how we will get the work done better, faster, with greater impact and greater speed and lower cost. If you can frame trust in economic terms and how trust affects the speed at which we can move and the cost of everything. Frame trust in terms of implementing the change initiative or implementing, you know, the priorities, the strategy. You can connect trust to everything and show how if we increase trust, we can do all these other things we're trying to do better, faster, less cost. I find that's a way to make trust relevant to people, whereas too often it's very easy for some to just kind of compartmentalize trust as a nice to have.

Anita Brick: I agree with you, but let's get practical and tell me, how do we do that? How do you move it from a, oh yeah, I've always been told, be trustworthy and trust others, to tying it really to the growth and advancement and even the efficacy of an organization. What are some things that practically connect one to the other?

Stephen M. R. Covey: You know, back to the data, for example a Watson Wyatt study shows that high trust organizations outperform low trust organizations by 286% in total return to shareholders stock price [inaudible 00:09:35] three times higher. Why? Because they get far greater speed, far lower cost. Ultimately, you can monetize that. You take The Great Place to Work Institute. Their work. The Hundred Best Companies to Work For, done by Fortune Magazine with a great place to work as a trust, is two thirds the criteria. Those companies in a 13-year study outperform the market by 288%, nearly identical, three times higher. So you can start with economic value, shareholder value.

Anita Brick: And I get that. I understand that. But in the field on the ground. An alum asked this: how does someone start a wave of trust when you are not an executive leader?

Stephen M. R. Covey: You do it in your circle of influence. You do it where you stand. You do it for yourself first. You give to others a person they can trust. And you become a great performer that gets results in a way that builds trust in relationships of trust, and then you begin to expand it to your team. Maybe you're not the team leader, but you're a team member and you convey to the team, look, if we can build higher trust with each other, we can do everything we're trying to do better.

There's overwhelming data on this. You could share the data. We're more collaborative when we trust each other, when we're innovative. And guess what, team I'll go first.

Anita Brick: And going first means that if I say I'm going to do something, I do it. When I say I'm going to do it, and at a high level. Is that part of what you're saying?

Stephen M. R. Covey:  Absolutely. It's as simple as saying, I'll go first. I want you to be able to trust me. I'm not asking you to just give me trust blindly. I want to earn it. So if I make you a commitment, I'm going to keep it, or else I won't make one. If I talk to you, I'll talk straight and open and transparent with you. Or I won't talk. If I have a problem with you, I'll go to you. I won't go behind your back. I tell people what I'm going to do. I declare my intent to build trust. I tell them what I'm going to do. I call that signaling your behavior. And then I do what I say I going to do.

And you will actually accelerate the building of trust in such a situation because people will be looking for it. It's kind of like when you buy a new car and then you drive on the freeway, you start to notice that car popping up everywhere, right?

Anita Brick: Everywhere. Right everywhere.

Stephen M. R. Covey: You're looking for it, you're looking for it in the same sense. You're signaling your behavior, telling people what you're going to do. And now I do what I say I want to do, and they say, Anita said she was going to do this. She just did it. And suddenly I credit you faster. I say I can trust her. I was looking for it. You delivered. I now say I can trust Anita more. You know, you're modeling this. You're going first. If you say you want more respect in the team, you demonstrate respect to people. You say you want more openness and transparency, then you become open and transparent. You model it, you become vulnerable. You go first. Leaders go first. When I say a leader, leadership is a choice, not a position.

Anita Brick: Yeah. Oh you're right.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Everyone can lead and you can lead as a team member. You could be the catalyst to build a high trust team. As a team member. Ideally, you'd love to have the team leader be leading out on this, but maybe you're the catalyst.

Anita Brick: Yeah. And then it gives you control no matter who you are.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Absolutely, absolutely. And so there's always a circle of influence that we have where we can start, you know, with ourselves. Self trust precedes every other kind of trust. And the reason that's critical is that it'll be hard to sustain trust for a person in a relationship, or even on a team if you don't trust yourself, because at some point that will leak out into the relationships, you know, you start with yourself being both trustworthy–I call that credibility–but also trusting because there tends to be a reciprocity of being trusting, being willing to extend trust in people is partly how you'll have them trust you back.

And so that's where you got to use some good judgment, where it's not a one size fits all and just trust anyone indiscriminately. Find the ways that you can demonstrate not only your trustworthiness, but also that you can show that you're trusting. They'll tend to reciprocate a trust back to you, and you can begin that virtuous, upwards cycle of creating more trust.

Anita Brick: And it makes perfect sense. And it does come back to if a person doesn't trust themselves, then there's a lot of questioning that goes on. One of actually, this is a student, I was talking about trust and credibility in the midst of a career change. And she said, “In my current field, I have a lot of credibility and people trust me. How do I keep the trust and credibility I have built when I'm not really known as I pivot into a new field?” Yeah, it's a great question.

Stephen M. R. Covey: It is a great question because you might have a track record of results and of credibility in one field and you're going to another. So the more that you can communicate the results of what you've been able to do and even be open and transparent about how you're now transitioning into a new area, that you have a track record of learning and gaining the skills and the competencies needed to succeed. You've done it before. You're going into a new area, so there'll be a learning curve and you're kind of upfront about that, that you're signaling the challenge you're taking on, but you're also demonstrating your track record. The most important thing I think in that process is for you yourself to remain confident. If you think about it, trust means confidence. So having self trust and having self confidence. Of yourself, of your character that translates over directly.

Of your competence, it may be that you're going to have to learn new skills or new insights into that new arena, but you have the ability to learn. You have a growth mindset. You're confident of that. And that will give you the sense of, I can do this. And you might even communicate to others. Yeah, I've got a learning curve here, but I've done this before and I'll do it again and help me do it, involve them in it. And I think you can make such a transition because principles of leadership apply in different contexts, different situations. And so in a sense you're a leader first and that applies everywhere. And then you learn the business second.

Anita Brick: How do you bridge the perceptual gap? So sometimes we actually have gaps. We haven't done something. And sometimes it's not that we don't have the skills, we've just used it in a different context. Another MBA student said, he said: “My leadership tells me I am not ready for the next step in my company. How do I change the perception of leadership so that they know I am ready for a promotion or I can contribute more?” Could be an interplay of self-trust, self-confidence, but it sounds like the person has that. I mean, and maybe this is more about command and control kind of environment. If you have to be in a role for a certain amount of time before you'll be considered, is there anything you can do to accelerate the trust building or increase the trust building to increase the growth within an organization?

Stephen M. R. Covey: Yeah, that's a great question because sometimes there are these perception gaps. Or there could be just kind of a tradition gap of you got to be in a role so long before you move on, and you might feel like you're ready and others might not. Here's a couple different thoughts on that. Again, always look in the mirror. Always start with yourself. Don't make it about what's wrong with you, boss, why can't you see that I'm ready? Make it about what you can do to help give confidence to that boss, or to that management committee, to that team that you are ready and not what's wrong with you? But what can I do to gain your confidence.

In a situation like this, I'd recommend in the appropriate way, go to the person–let’s say it's a leader that doesn't feel you're ready for something. You go to the person and say, hey, I want to talk to you about this. I'm not asked to be given something that I'm not ready for or deserving of, but I also want to have opportunities and to do things. And these are some of my goals. What would you like me to work on that could demonstrate to you that I'm ready? Because I want to become that kind of person for you, and I want to demonstrate that, I want to gain those skills, gain those competencies, show you I have those abilities so that you feel confident in giving me this kind of opportunity.

So it's less of what's wrong with you and more what can I do to demonstrate I'm ready, because I want to do that and show you that. Again, you're just putting it in your circle of influence. It is very easy to sometimes otherwise kind of sit back and gripe about how the boss doesn't trust anybody. And you're trying to say, what can I do to earn your confidence? It just kind of ships it around, and most bosses will at some point say, well, I need to make sure that you can do this, this and this, or I need to make sure that I can rely upon you and I'm not quite sure yet. Or I need to make sure that you've got these skills. I don't know that you do. Then you're saying, okay, then help me, show me what I can do to demonstrate to you that I can do this. And most people want to be helpful. And when you make it about what you can do, not about what's wrong with them, they're far more open to giving you some things to work on.

I saw this happen one time, Anita. There was a boss that just didn't trust anybody. It was complete command and control and dictatorial command and control. Outright direction, barking out orders. But one of the people on the team just began to really anticipate needs and tried to understand when the boss is barking out orders, what is he trying to get done and tried to anticipate it, would do completed staff work on his own to demonstrate that they really understood the need, and they started going to the person and say, here's what I did, what I prepared for you as you asked me to get this data done.

And I even went further, anticipating that this might be what you wanted. Person was really amazed. The boss was, that they did this. And then person began to ask the boss, I want to be the kind of person you can rely upon, have confidence in. I want to become that person for you. I want to earn your trust without saying the words he was saying, I recognize you have a hard time trusting people. Like I said it was, I want to earn your trust. I will be the person you can have confidence in. I've also learned using the word confidence sometimes in place of trust is better. In many languages, trust and confidence are the exact same word. But trust sometimes feels like I want you to trust me, and it can feel like there's a pejorative judgment in it.

Confidence is a little bit safer than that. I have confidence in you, and that implies more of that competence side, not just the character side. And so I've learned, you know, what can I do to earn your confidence?

Anita Brick: I like that. And I think that the bar for trust–perceptual bar of trust–is much higher. But here's a, you know, when you were saying, tell me what I can do, I have maybe it's a little bit of an orientation around expecting that people will come with ideas. So if I come to you and I want to know what is it that I can do to get there, I almost feel like I should come to you and say, as we've talked about, it feels like these are three things that are very important to have at this next level. And I have some ideas about how to get there that I’d love to talk to you about, and then I'd love to get your input. Would that be different for you? It would be different for me. When someone says, come and tell me what to do, it reinforces the fact that they're not ready.

Stephen M. R. Covey: I love it. No, Anita, that would be my first starting point. That's what that individual I was talking about did. They kind of read the needs. They anticipated and they came in with recommendations. You're trying to add value, and you're trying to show that you can see where things are going and what's needed, and you're making recommendations. You're coming in with ideas, with recommendations of how to proceed that show you're taking initiative, you're anticipating, you're smart, you're listening to the cues and the direction that leader's giving, and you're coming in and doing it.

So I like that better. And my point was to say, rather than making it about what's wrong with you, boss? What are the things I can do to show you that I'm ready? And maybe rather than asking, you are recommending, taking more initiative. And the very act of taking that initiative shows you're ready for more.

I love what you're saying. My main point was to say don't make it about them. Make it about what you can do. If you can lead out with that, all the better.

Anita Brick: Absolutely. That is where people get stuck. They get stuck if they think, well it’s Stephen’s fault, it’s Anita’s fault. To me, that's a very risky person on a team because not taking responsibility means that they are going to ultimately blame everyone. And that's tricky.

So here's someone who doesn't want to blame anyone but is confused. So, here is an alum and he said: “I was promoted to manager not too long ago after being with the company a short period of time. More than one of my manager peers left and there was a big reorg. I now have no direct reports and I'm on a special project. I have been told that my performance is solid, yet I feel that I have lost trust somewhere, even though I wasn't the cause for my peers leaving. That's very tricky. Any insights welcome, Stephen.

Stephen M. R. Covey: You know it is tricky. This is where you come back to your sense of your self-trust, your self-confidence, your character, your competence, and acknowledge that there's been some shifts, there's some organizational things.

And what you're going to do is work within your circle of influence and expand it and grow it, and work at the edge of your circle of influence. The things you were talking about, Anita, of coming in with recommendations of how to do such and such a thing better, or how you can add more value and you're basically trying to–rather than making it about I'm not quite sure if you trust me, just show how credible you are and how much value you can add with your ideas. You know, look, if you don't have direct reports again, that's not it doesn't mean you can't be a leader. You can still lead in any circumstance. And so that maybe the world changed and there's been reorganizations. You don't control that. What you can't control is the impact that you're having in the new role that you're in. The whole idea of trust is that you want to get results in a way that inspires trust, because then your ability to get results in the future has just gone up. Yes, maybe you're no longer meeting people, but you're probably doing something in that role. Do it exceptionally well. Demonstrate that you're learning. You know you got a growth mindset and you are a learn-it-all more than a know-it-all.

Anita Brick: You use that in the book. I love that, it's great.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Yeah, yeah. It actually originates with doctor Carol Dweck of Stanford. We got to have the ability to learn. You're just demonstrating that you are a contributor and that you are a leader in whatever role you've been given. And whether you're leading a group of people that are leading a team or just on a project, and maybe it's not the project you wanted to be on, whatever you do, you do well.

I know in my own work, when I was CEO of the Leadership Center, there would be people that would always rise in different circumstances. They’d perform whatever was asked, even though sometimes they were put into a circumstance that was less than favorable. They just delivered. I learned I could count on them. They would always just come through and create more value than was initially asked for. They just showed such initiative, such resourcefulness that ultimately they're like a cork. They just pop up on top in the water. They might have been put down, but they just come back up. That's why I come back to the self trust, that self confidence being the heart of how this all works.

Anita Brick: Maybe it's not an air quote special project, maybe the person could see it as truly a special project. Treat it that way and like you said, rise to the occasion so that you will come up to the top again.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Yeah, make it a special project because of the ordinary results. How you magnified this and really delivered something of great value. The whole premise is don't think that the problem is out there as everybody else and everything else in the situation, the context, the external environment, because that's disempowering. It is the expression is if you think the problem is out there, that very thinking is the problem because we've disempowered ourselves. So always look in your circle of influence. It’s bigger than you think. Work at the fringe of your circle of influence, the very outer edge, and you'll expand it. But when you think that it's everybody else, your circle of influence will actually shrink.

Anita Brick: Absolutely. I totally agree with you. Stephen, do you have time for a couple more questions?

Stephen M. R. Covey: I do, absolutely.

Anita Brick: Wonderful. There is a question: in your book you talk about seek to bless, not to impress. And the original question was, how does this play out in the business world? I'm curious because this is where we started. How did that play out in the merger?

Stephen M. R. Covey: In the merger, we were all trying to impress each other. We were all self-serving. Whe whole idea of seek to bless, not to impress is you're saying don't have it be about you. Have it be about others. As a leader, I love that Frances Frei and Anne Morriss in their book Unleashed, they say leadership is not about you, it's about them. So it's about others. It's about serving. It's about adding value. It's about caring and really trying to make a difference for others in impacting people. And so it's a mindset of making it about others. And when you're trying to impress, it's about you. When you’re trying to bless. And maybe bless is not the term you would use. When you're trying to add value. You're trying to serve, but you're trying to make a difference. You have impact. It's about others. And so you're just trying to do that, have that mentality to do that.

So early on in the merger, everyone's trying to impress each other, trying to show how our side was the better side and how our side was doing it right and their side was not as good as our side. Emily changed the mindset to what? What can we do together? How can we help each other? How can we serve? How can we add value? That really changed everything. In this new book, Trust and Inspire, I really focus on how leadership is stewardship. It's not just rights, it's responsibilities.

Anita Brick: Oh yeah, the higher you go, the more responsibility you have as opposed to you're sitting on top looking down at everyone.

Stephen M. R. Covey: That's right. So we elevate service above self-interest. Self-interest will take care of itself. Of course there's self-interest. But when that is the dominant mindset, then you'll tend to become internally focused and it will be about you, not about them. And as a leader, you won't do as well if it's about you. Leadership is always about others. So it's about service contribution, adding value, creating impact, and influencing. As opposed to I need mine and position and rights. And so it's this mindset service above self-interest. You serve well. Your self-interest needs will be met. And that's the mindset. And it's a stewardship mindset meaning responsibilities not just rights. You know leadership is position and rights. No. Leadership is influence and responsibility.

Anita Brick: And if you think about it, the world today, it seems to me and you may have a better perspective about this than I do, but it seems that the world is in an evolutionary or even a revolutionary state, because there's part that is holding on to the old way so dearly. But the organizations that are rising and thriving are moving away from that toward what you're talking about.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Anita, I believe that is absolutely taking place in front of our eyes. And the old way I'm calling Command and Control. There's the updated, improved doing an improved version called Enlightened Command and Control. But it's still the old way. It's still the old way. You know the old way is a thing paradigm, not a people paradigm. Efficiency not effectiveness. It's managing people and things instead of managing things and leading people. I'm calling the new paradigm, the new mindset, trust and inspire, in contrast to command and control. But this battle is going on. And the thing is, we're deeply scripted in the old model. We're immersed in it. We're like fish. You discover water less. We're so immersed in it. There's an edge. We're not even aware of it. It's in our language. I mean, a chain of command, a span of control, hierarchies and rank and file and recruitment. And the words are almost military type words conveying traditional hierarchical command and control. But that doesn't work today in a new world of work.

Anita Brick: It absolutely doesn't. Each of us can take a step. And with that in mind, I mean, you've talked about a lot of things and you shared. And the biggest my biggest takeaway, which I'm totally in agreement with this, is that if we look externally for someone else to take the first step, we could be waiting a long time. But in addition to that, what are three things that you would advise someone to do who wants to build trust at work that creates a successful and enduring career?

Stephen M. R. Covey: Yes. Here's three practical things you can do. First is to declare your intent, and that means you share who you are, what you're about, what you're trying to do and why. And the very act of doing that is it involves people, it enrolls people. It gets them involved with you. They know who you are, they know what you're trying to do. And you say, look, as a leader, here's how I want to be. Here's my intent. I want to lead in a way where we get the results, but grow the team and build the trust, build the relationships. You're always focusing on both the task and the relationship, both the results and the creation of trust. Both the outcome and the growth of the people as a leader. So you're conveying, here's who I am. Here's my intent. When you declare your intent, people will look at you and interpret you through a different lens. When you don't declare your intent, people will ascribe intent to you, and maybe they'll just reject you. You know, you're just like any other leader just trying to get ahead. Whereas your intent is you want to deliver results and help others get ahead as well as yourself, but others too. So declare your intent. It's a very powerful way to change how people interpret and receive you.

Second, signal your behavior. That is, tell people what you're going to do. Tell them that, hey, when we work together, here's what you can know about me. I'll only make a commitment to you if I'm going to keep it, or else I won't make one. So you can count on my commitments. When we talk, I will always talk open and honest with you, straightforward, so you can count on what I'm saying is right. And I will take responsibility and own things. You know, you're basically telling people what you're going to do. You're signaling that behavior so that they're then looking for it.

And then the third is what I said earlier. You now do what you just said you're going to do. Here's the point. By doing the first two steps in front of the third, you'll accelerate the building of trust. People will be aware of it. They'll notice it, they'll credit you faster, if you always just kind of deliver and do what you say.

You'll build trust, but you'll build it a lot faster if you upfront will have declared your intent, who you are, what you're about. Tell people what you're going to try to do and why and then do it. They're looking for it. They'll become aware of it. They'll become enrolled with you. You've involved them. They've become committed to you and your success. And then when you do it and you deliver, they say, Ah-ha, just like Anita said, I can count on this, I can rely upon this. And you'll accelerate the building of that trust. And people begin to see you, and with a new lens, in a new light.

That's kind of what I had to do in the merger, because I'd kind of been labeled, I came from a side, the Covey side, and I kind of had to start over from scratch, confront the reality, declare my intent, tell people we're going to try to do to earn their trust. I said, team, I'm going to be open and transparent. All my decisions are being interpreted through a political lens, and I want to say, so I'm going to be open and transparent on my decision-making and involve people and try to compensate for biases I may have, I might not even be aware of. And then they saw me do it, and I told them I was going to do. And then I did it. I was able to build trust with them faster and change a label that they had put on me because of their merger.

Those same principles, the same three things declare your intent. Secondly, your behavior. That is, tell them what you're going to do and now do what you say you're going to do. That is the fastest way I know to build trust. And when a person is trusted– a study from Zenger Folkman shows–they’re six times more likely to achieve high potential. Six times more likely when they're trusted. Fast way I know to build trust is to follow that three step process.

Anita Brick: I love that because some people go right to three and then they wonder why they're not acknowledged. But you just gave us a path to not just build trust, but to do it with speed.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Now be aware, risk and return go together. Don't do this–those first two steps if you're not going to do the third. Trust faster than expectations and then you don't do what you're going to do. You will diminish to play that much faster too. So just like you can build it faster, you'll lose it faster if you don't deliver on that third step. So in either direction, it's an accelerator.

Anita Brick: Got it. Yeah. So don't take on things that you have no intent of doing. But the upside is there as long as you truly plan to follow through and do what you said you're going to do.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Absolutely. It's a simple approach, but simple doesn't mean easy. It's also within everyone's circle of influence. And you can start with little things. Start with a little small commitment, right? Make right and go from that commitment to the next. Commitment to the next is basically it's doing what you say you're going to do with small things in those small things can lead to bigger things. You want to build trust, then declare your intent. Tell what you're going to do and do what you say you're going to do. You'll accelerate the building of trust, and when you're trusted, you'll get more opportunities, more possibilities, and it becomes a virtuous upward spiral.

Anita Brick: Absolutely. Thank you so much. This was wonderful. You gave us some really insightful, powerful things and Trust and Inspire has all of that, plus a bunch of stories. I really enjoyed it. I'm really glad that you wrote it and that you shared it with us today. And Stephen, thank you so much for making the time for us.

Stephen M. R. Covey: Absolutely, Anita, delighted to be with you and other folks here tied to the Booth school and to CareerCast. Great honor.

Anita Brick: Thank you. Oh, thank you. And thank you all for listening. This is Anita Brick with CareerCast at Chicago Booth. Keep advancing.