Leadership

Emergence of Trust

Start with Why – Simon Sinek

If a company mistreats their people, just watch how the employees treat their customers. Mud rolls down a hill, and if you’re the one standing at the bottom, you get hit with the full brunt. In a company, that’s usually the customer.

EX: Continental Airlines

-crummy place to work in 1994.

“surly to costumers, surly to each other, and ashamed of their company. And you can’t have a good product without people who like coming to work. It just can’t be done,” he recounts.

Continental going through hard time:

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 2x in eight years. 1983 and 1991. 10 different CEOs. Lost 600 million and ranked last in every performance category.

Bethune arrives and makes $250 million and was ranked as one of the best companies to work for in America.

Made changes to improve operations, but biggest gain was impossible to measure: TRUST!!!

Trust emerges because executive promises change. Trust is not a checklist. Fulfilling all your responsibilities does not create trust. Trust is a feeling, not a rational experience. Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain.

Trust - sense of value, real value

Value is the transference of trust

* Can’t convince someone you have value, just as you can’t convince someone to trust.

* Have to earn trust by communicating and demonstrating that you share same values and beliefs.

* WHY is just a belief

* HOWs are the actions we take to realize that belief

* WHATS are the results of those actions

* Three are in balance, trust is built and value is perceived.

Before Bethune’s arrival, executive floor was off-limits. Key-cards, security, armed guards.

Bethune came and made changes to WIN:

Employees of Continental had to want to win for themselves.

Nicer to come to work when the environment is cleaner.

Got rid of security on executive office. Open door...