1. Trust, Reputation and (self) Confidence
On the qualities of leadership
© Darryl Bubner, CEO Disciplined Innovation, 2012
Once again we have been entertained by the pompous Clive P. When exuberant billionaires go
too far, they barely notice the hit on their reputation or hip pocket.
One of our clients has been grappling with reputation issues; purely as a result of events beyond
its control. This led our executive team to consider the issue or reputation and the role of trust
across the wide acreage across trend setters and billionaires occupied by leading companies.
TRUST involves doing things. It involves honesty and reliability. Trust is the willingness to rely on
another person, the willingness of employees to believe and rely on what leaders say; the
willingness of customers to believe our staff. A straight talking manager who is trustworthy is
honest and reliable. Honesty is mostly a matter of being truthful, with the caveat that in the
social world truth is a matter of shared perception. (A chair is only a chair because everyone
agrees to call it a chair.) Being reliable means that others feel they can depend on us. It refers to
the consistency of words and action over time. It also helps to competent and confident. We’ve
all seen the comedy of the honest fool.
REPUTATION involves being something. Occasionally reputations involves being trustworthy, but
they are generally for a whole range of characteristics other than trust. One airline has a
reputation for fun while another has a reputation for being classy and another has a reputation
for being great to work for. Reputation is closely related to image - how customers see our
business. The key thing about reputation is that it is a result of everything a company does in the
market place and how it does it. When one’s reputation is good marketing messages reinforce
reputation. When reputation is poor there will be a long haul involving much more than
marketing to restore it.
We were working with a trusted and respected CEO of a company with a reputation for caring
about the environment and deeply worried about angry customers going viral after a likely price
increase. Potter*, ever the pragmatist, was quick to point out that both trust and reputation are
valuable intangible assets. Megan*, schooled in the classics, did not take long to present us with
some quotes that added a deeper dimension to our conversation.
Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men
of character are trusted. Aristotle
Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of
prudence. Democritus
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
Mephistopheles to Faust in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust

2. Applying Goethe’s words of wisdom, confidently trusting yourself is a key leadership quality. At
the same time, entertaining doubts and differences remains important. As former entrepreneur
and founder of VISA Dee Ward Hock said: ‘Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to
replicate your strength and idiotic to replicate your weakness. It is essential to employ, trust, and
reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is also
rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom’.
(See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VISA_(credit_card) for the history of the credit card and a
fascinating if complicated story of financial innovation, brand and reputation management.)
That led us to consider trust as a silent sentinel of social relations; and it touches every aspect of
business performance. Trust is ever present in sales and marketing. It helps to explain why word
of mouth, whether it be about your quality, fantastic staff or great discounts delivers more
consumer interest and sales than almost any other type of marketing message.
I have raved to my friends about my recent experience with Apple. During the call the
combination of expertise, friendliness and unfailing patience made my day, in stark contrast with
table thumping effect of “support’ from many telcos. Most people need to interact with each
other for a while in order to build a trust relationship with others and what they offer.
Team members notice your behaviour and follow in your footsteps. Over time who you do and
how you do it are reflected in the norms and style of the business. It’s almost a no brainer -
trustworthy leaders develop high trust cultures that not only enable staff to get on with working
together more productively, but also enable businesses to be more agile and innovative. Potter,
fresh from his first football match for the year, was quick to draw the parallel between the team
work, trust, confidence and agility behind winning football teams and winning businesses.
So, asks Potter, how does a busy manager do trust? We all put our heads together and came up
with some pointers:
 Use the three strikes and you’re out rule. People make mistakes, forget things and take time
to change habits. So we all need a bit of slack. The three strikes rule gives people a bit of
slack, and also gives you a boundary. Needless to say on critical matters getting it right first
time and every time matters, and the rule does not apply.
 Apply the rule to yourself. Habits can be hard to modify and inner confidence needs to be
balanced with an appreciation of how others see you. When self-management does not get
you to where you want to be call on a coach, mentor or close colleague and good friends.
 Keep employees and customers well informed. Provide as much information as you can
comfortably divulge as soon as possible in most situation. And be succinct. This is critically
important in reputation and crisis management when problems arise. Former Queensland
Premier Anna Bligh gained popularity with her steady, visible and empathic communication
during the storms and floods a year ago. The images will be long remembered as much as her
disastrously sensible privatisation successes.

3.  Confront hard issues in a timely fashion. If an employee is underperforming or causing
problems, it’s important to confront them about these issues. When you do others will trust
you more
 Listen attentively. We all get distracted by self-talk, a reminder of a current frustration,
another good idea that draws our attention inwards. Listening attentively and hearing and
understanding is a high order skill that wins trust and respect. When subjects and issues are
complex and when they involve emotions, summarise ever so often to make sure that
everyone is on the same page.
As our conversation drew to a close we decided that at all stages of our entrepreneurial journey
being liked is nice, being profitable is better and being admired, envied and trusted is best.
You can’t always control the level of trust in your business, but you can act in ways that promote
trust within your immediate work environment. In this context things you can do to build and
maintain trust are:
 Hiring and promoting people who know how to form positive, trusting interpersonal
relationships with others
 Developing the communication and interpersonal skills of key managers and supervisors
 Acting with integrity, keeping commitments and expecting supervisors to do the same. If you
can’t keep a commitment, explain what is happening in the situation without delay. Actions
speak louder than words and your current behaviour and actions set employee expectations
of your future behaviour. Supervisors who are worthy of trust will be obeyed and followed
with fewer complaints.
 Protecting the interests of all employees in a work group. Don’t criticise or blame absent
employees, nor allow others to place blame, call names, or point fingers
 Displaying competence. Know what you’re talking about, and if you don’t know, admit it.
We concluded that trust is tested during disputes, conflicts and tough trading times; requiring
leaders to be assertive but not aggressive, judicious about what to say and how to say it, and
fairly consistent across words and actions over time. In B2B and B2C sale processes, particularly
when larger sales are involved, there is little that can be done to speed the process. Better to
simply be aware of the many trust building opportunities and risks along the way.
Trust is built and maintained by many small actions over time. Trust isn’t a matter of technique,
but of character; we’re trusted because of our way of being, not because of our polished
exteriors or cleverly crafted communications.
* Megan and Potter are fictional characters that appear in Darryl’s blogs; or are they?