Trustbusting In The Worst Way

The last great progressive in politics was, arguably, Teddy Roosevelt. Ol' Teddy was a pit bull when it came to breaking up the power of collective business interests.

How the progressive movement was hijacked by an academic intelligentsia, fell into thrall to global Marxism, and learned camouflage tactics to re-emerge as a benign modern force is another story for another day. But, we are not, for the moment, looking at capitalism run amok.

The trust that is taking, or should be, a significant share of mind, is the trust within organizations, and critical to business relationships involving customers, suppliers, and sundry service providers. And, trust outside the organization cannot, by definition, be sustained without a foundation of internal trust, with peers, with subordinates, and with chain of command superiors.

That internal trust is based on simple things - walking the talk, developing and elevating associates, keeping one's word, delivering promised results, and being consistent. Unfortunately, far too many modern managers (NOT leaders) act as if trust and its components are as optional and disposable as the staff about to be riffed into panicked impoverishment.

They lose, in the end, but human beings pay a terrible price in the meantime.

How are you doing in the walk the talk department? How far do your employees trust you? Your company? How much do you trust your peers? Your executive team?

Should you be someplace else, someplace with genuine values intact and active?