Trust
can be fleeting - especially the trust we instill in leaders. A leader might
spend 30 years building trust, and then watch it disappear in 30 minutes if
he’s not careful. And when leaders flagrantly violate trust, it’s often never
recovered.
Consider
the epidemic of distrust caused by leaders putting their self-interests above
all else. You’ll even hear some economists argue that this makes sense, because
we’re all motivated by money and that’s just how the market functions.
Well,
I disagree. Greed is not the market operating. Greed is actually disgraceful.
But unfortunately, many leaders get away with it. Then all the people that
depend on them—customers, shareholders, communities—are betrayed. Often a whole
enterprise is destroyed.
To
me, if you’re privileged enough to be in a position of leadership, it is
paramount that you maintain the trust of the people for whom you have a
responsibility. And if you violate that, then you have failed.
Now,
here’s the catch. We all fail. But we can recover. Leaders can
bounce back, but they have to prove themselves. I like to think that the
virtues you live by when things are going well don’t matter.
The
real test is how you behave when times are tough. And if you’re a leader, your
constituents want to see what you do under severe pressure. If you can stay
true to your values then, people will trust you again. You’ll be viewed as
authentic.
[Watch
Bill George explain why difficulty is an opportunity.]
In
fact, there’s a correlation between being an authentic leader and getting great
results.
Here’s
an example. When Anne Mulcahy—former CEO and chairperson of Xerox—was faced
with bankruptcy, she reconfigured the whole company and made some really daring
decisions. She decided not to cut R&D, not to cut customer support, but to
invest in the long term. They ultimately had to trim up and have fewer
employees in the end, but they came back. They avoided bankruptcy and achieved
great success, in fact. And Mulcahy didn’t have finance experience - she rose
through the ranks, starting as a salesperson out of college. Authentic in her
virtues and loyalty to Xerox; she made many bold decisions and went on to be
voted one of America’s Best Leaders by US News and World Report in 2008.
How
to Build Trust
So
how can you do this? It requires a few qualities.
- You’re willing to get experience doing the work of your team. This doesn’t mean giving rousing speeches, putting out strongly worded press releases, or releasing polished promotional videos. This means you actually spend time with the people doing the work.
- You honor those people by listening and responding in earnest.
When
I was at Medtronic,
I gowned up and saw between 700 and 1,000 procedures. I’d put on the scrubs,
met with the doctor, and watched an open-heart surgery, a brain surgery, or a
pacemaker implant. And that’s how I learned the business.
When
I was on the board of Target Corporation, the former CEO, Bob Ulrich, explained
how he walked about 14 store floors a week. He didn’t tell them he was coming.
He just put on a sweatshirt, walk around, and watch the store run.
And
take Dan Vasella at Novartis. He’d be down in the labs all the time with the
researchers asking, “What are you working on? What are the barriers?”
Instead
of being the invisible entity who spends his or her time at black tie CEO
events in DC, this is a leader who delves into the real day-to-day functions of
the business. And that’s the type of leader who builds trust.
To
maintain that trust, you need care about your team, want to be out there with
them, and love the business. You really do have to love it! I can’t stress that
enough. If you don’t love it, don’t do it.
(Daniel Goleman, 9/8/15)
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