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?