It Takes Respect To Know Trust

There is this person I know who always has to be stopped from doing what he knows he should not do. He is young and it involves cookies.

It turns out that the grownups around him have vices, too. And their repeated bad behavior is causing trouble. In the past week’s Economist, Schumpeter wrote about declining trust in America. There are too many people who have misgivings about too many other people. Plus, everyone seems to be suspicious of institutions.

People increasingly view institutions as corrupt, strangers as suspicious, rivals as illegitimate and facts as negotiable.

According to Schumpeter, JPMorgan Chase’s leader Jamie Dimon believes trust has been America’s “secret sauce” of success. Unfortunately, Dimon thinks we are running low and he worries about the consequences.

Less like sauce, trust is more like the cream between two cookies. The cream is the glue that holds the cookies together and makes the whole treat tasty. Take away the cream? You are left with two dry cookies that make your teeth look dirty after you choke them down. Trust works that way in relationships. It is a bond between people that makes the relationship appealing to the participants, as well as to onlookers. Take away the trust? The relationship is not going to hold together and thrive. Others watching are going to grow suspicious of relationships, too.

If indeed we are living in a time of prevalent distrust, what might a person or organization do to push against that trend and demonstrate faithfulness?

A place to start is respect. Every employee, partner, client, customer, and passerby is marvelous, just because. People are inherently valuable. Respect that. Treat everyone like they are too worthy to deceive. When people act distrustfully, treat them like they are not living up to the respect they intrinsically deserve and you proactively intend to give them.

It takes respect to know trust. We can think of ourselves as professors of respect who teach trust.