In Darren Hardy’s terrific book The Compound Effect, he shares a story about a time when as a young man he attended a seminar on being successful. The instructor asked the group, “What percentage of shared responsibility do you have for making a relationship work?”
Darren blurted out: “50/50.” It was obvious to him both people must be willing to share the responsibility evenly or someone was getting “ripped off.”
Another participant shouted out 51/49 saying that you must be willing to do more than the other person. 80/20, yelled another.
The instructor then wrote 100/0 on the white board in big black letters. He told the participants you must be willing to give 100 percent with zero expectation of receiving anything in return. Only then will a relationship work.
The same holds true for trust. Taking responsibility for being 100% trustworthy is the critical first step in building high trust relationships. Only when we are trustworthy – our actions, our words, our intent – will the conditions be right to create high trust relationships.
The big lesson for today is building trust starts with being trustworthy and that’s something we control.
Reflection: What has been successful for us in the past to create high trust relationships?
Action: What is one action we could take today to rise up to our best self versus how we are showing up in the present moment?
What did you think of this post?
