Trust: The Force That Drives Results

By Linda Fisher Thornton

When leaders trust and are trustworthy, this brings out their best and fuels a virtuous cycle that brings out the best in others and releases the potential of the organization for great performance.

Ethical Leaders Are Trustworthy and They Choose to Trust Others

When we choose to trust, we access a higher level of capacity in ourselves and our organizations. When we are consistently trustworthy, people know they can count on us to support their success.

How Does Trust Drive Results?

Once thought by business leaders to be “soft,” trust is now proven to be a “results-changer.” Here is a sampling of the many ways trust transforms organizations:

Trust drives better average annualized returns, “beating the average annualized returns of the S&P 500 by a factor of three.” Scott Beilke, Tint.com, The Importance of Trust: It Makes Your Culture “Change Ready”

It “accelerated growth, enhanced innovation, improved collaboration, stronger partnering, better execution, and heightened loyalty.” Franklin Covey, The Business Case For Trust, SpeedofTrust.com

“In the current tech landscape, trust is — as the industry trends analysts at Hyper Island phrase it — a ‘high-value currency.” Himanshu Sareen, Icreon Tech, An Economy of Trust: How Transparency Is Changing the Tech Industry, Wired

It reduces the time it takes the organization to adapt to change. Scott Beilke, The Importance of Trust: It Makes Your Culture “Change Ready”,Tint.com

“Trust has been elevated to a C-suite issue, not an afterthought, because consumer trust converts into bottom-line benefits; in our study, half of respondents say they are willing to pay a premium for products and services from companies they trust.” Cognizant, The Business Value of Trust