There is a great book written by Stephen M.R. Covey, son of famed productivity author Stephen Covey, entitled The Speed of Trust. Covey argues that the lack of trust in business is extremely costly. All the due diligence, exhaustive contracts, monitoring and the like slows business down and increases costs. Alternatively, what if you trusted the person on the other side of the table? How much quicker and more easily could you do business?
I wholeheartedly agree with Covey’s thesis. I do not suggest being naive, but I do advocate and practice aligning with customers, vendors and employees one can trust and stepping away from those one cannot. My strong conviction wasn’t birthed out of the book though. For me, the seed was planted many years ago when I was a young boy attentively observing my father conduct business.
My father manages ranches raising registered cattle. He’s what people have in mind when they think of Texas. He’s what I have in mind when I think of operating at the speed of trust.
I listened to my father tell customers the truth, not what they needed to hear. I watched my dad resign from a job because vendors were being treated poorly by the ranch owner. I watched employees respect a man for always having their back but never holding back the truth when they failed to live up to his expectations or their potential. I remember people routinely buying cattle over the phone from him, sight unseen, at the price he said he’d pay for the animal. These weren’t cheap cattle either. They were $20,000 transactions.
My father operated more quickly and with lower costs than his competitors because he leveraged trust. It was a valuable asset and he used it to it’s full advantage. He had lower selling costs. He had better vendor terms. He had more loyal and effective employees.
The time and financial costs incurred by lack of trust is a waste. Let your competitors absorb it. You and your business can do better things with the time and money.
What would it take for you to operate at the speed of trust? Do you need to change? Do you need to fire some customers, vendors or employees? It’s worth the effort and can make business less stressful and fun again.
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