Trust principle

Principles > Trust principle

Principle | How it works | So what?

Principle

If I trust you, I will accept what you say as true and expose my vulnerabilities to you.

How it works

Trust is the basic unit of social glue that enables us interact without fear.

No harm

I will trust and work with people who do not harm me. You can be passive or active in your approach to harm.

Passive no-harm is when you do not actively or deliberately act to harm me. However, you might still stand by and let others harm me, so active no-harm is where you act positively to protect me from harm. Of course, I will trust a active protector even more than a passive 'no harm' friend.

Reliability

If you always do what you say you are going to do, it makes your behavior very predictable, which means I can feel even safer around you. It also means that if I ask you do something I do not need to keep checking up on you.

Truth

I do not know everything and may lean on your expertise. If you always tell me the truth then I know that I can rely on what you say and not have to do any further checking up.

Truth and reliability also extend to the whole notion of 'integrity', where a person is true to their values and follows common social norms.

So what?

Build trust by:

Doing no harm and actively seek to protect people, demonstrating that you care about them personally.
Managing expectations and always keeping your promises.
Always telling the truth and actively maintaining your reputation for integrity.