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Risk Is to Trust as Vaccine Is to Immunity
Should you take the risk of mentioning price early on in a sales call? Should you be candid about your less-than-perfect qualifications for a job? When you notice the client looking a little distracted, should you take the risk of...
The Problem with Lying
Dilbert on trust and lying:Scott Adams nails it. With a sledgehammer, as usual. The pointy-haired boss is ethically clueless, and blatantly so.We all get the joke, much the way we get the old George Burns line, “the most important thing in...
Find the Fear and Swim Upstream to Trust
Fear is the root negative human emotion. Scratch the surface of other negative feelings, and you will find fear at the core.Fear Drives BehaviorIf you accept this description of fear, it means you can roadmap people’s emotions. It also means you can...
How (Not) to Ask for Recommendations, Referrals and References
I recently met a first-time author, who gave me a copy of their book. Shortly after, I got an email from the author’s publicist, saying:“…We’d appreciate it if you would post your 5-star review of the book on Amazon…”Now:I don’t mind being asked to...
Customer Death by Survey? Or Just Bad Surveys?
I recently wrote an article in RainToday called How To Annoy Your Client Without Really Trying, about the excess of customer satisfaction metrics.Wouldn’t you know it – someone disagreed with me! I know, hard to believe…But in this case, the...
Trusted Advisor? Or Just Not a Crook?
The term “trusted advisor” has been around a long time. Recently I wrote about how the phrase has undergone “trusted advisor inflation” and become far more casually used.When Maister, Galford and I wrote the book The Trusted Advisor back in...
Real People Real Trust: Transforming a Business from the Inside Out
Guest post by Andrea Howe -- Ron Prater has worked in government consulting firms for almost 20 years, including three years with Arthur Andersen LLP. In 2007, he set out with partner Alan Pentz to create a company that would apply real...
Trust Tip Video: Nobody Gives a Damn–Fortunately
On some level, we’re all insecure egomaniacs. We’re not happy unless people are paying attention to us. But at the same time, we get nervous when people pay too much attention to us.Because we might not like what we think they might see.All of...
Solving Knowledge Management with Speed Dating: Interview with Clay Hebert
Most corporate discussions about knowledge management (KM) are about databases, software, and IT. One mid-sized law firm I know took a different approach – getting partners to interact over lunch. It was very effective.It turns out the 1-to-1...
Books We Trust: The Decision to Trust by Bob Hurley
This is the eighth in a series called Books We Trust. The Decision to Trust is one of the best books written in recent years on trust; it is a major contribution to the subject. Author Bob Hurley teaches at Fordham and Columbia, so it’s no surprise...
Wants or Needs? Dylan and the Stones on Sales
If you’re in sales or business development, you’ve probably heard the distinction between wants and needs. What’s the difference? And what’s the role of each to someone buying? I checked with the well-known sales consulting firm of Jagger,...
Stupid Crazy Trust -- It Does Last
Sometimes I get annoyed. Usually, that means I’m thinking like an idiot. Sometimes, however, it produces useful ideas. Lately I’m annoyed by the constant repetition of a myth about trust. You know this one: “Trust takes a long time to create, but...
What I’m Reading: Two New Books on Sales
I’m reading a lot lately. Some of it’s more out-there, some of it’s rock-solid business. Two books that fall into the latter category are Jack Malcolm’s Bottom-Line Selling, and Andy Paul’s Zero-Time Selling. Both are good – what’s important is why...
Books We Trust: The Speed of Trust
This is a special edition of Books We Trust. Stephen M. R. Covey, Jr. wrote the hugely successful The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything, and I am delighted to interview him in the same week as our own Trusted Advisor Fieldbook...
Real People, Real Trust: What Trust-based Strategy Consulting Looks, Feels, and Sounds Like
Janet Andrews is a senior-level consultant at SRA’s Touchstone Consulting Group, a strategy and management-consulting firm. Janet spends her days running from one U.S. federal government building to the next, working with executives on issues of...
When Failure is an Option – and an Opportunity
“Park the car,” the officer said to my 17-year-old son who was taking his driving test. He had put the car in drive and was about to make a left turn out of the parking space as the officer instructed. He’d gone all of about 2 feet....
Annals of Bad Selling: The Sweat Interview Test
Have you ever been run through a ‘sweat’ test interview? Maybe it’s a sales call, maybe a presentation. A senior person plays the tough-as-nails client. They make you sweat it. And—if you’re good enough—you win. If You Think You Won Your...
The Dark Side of Work to Come (Guest Post)
This post was written by Julian PoweIf one wants to be a pessimist about the future of work, there is no shortage of opportunities to nurture one’s paranoia. A compelling new work by Lynda Gratton—The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here—could...
Story Time: An Unexpected Way to Recover Lost Trust
When it comes to trust-building, stories are a powerful tool for both learning and change. Our new Story Time series brings you real, personal examples from business life that shed light on specific ways to lead with trust. Today’s anecdote zeroes...
'Now Presenting…' Expert Advice on Powerful Presentations
I’ve been giving business presentations for nearly 20 years. The more I do it, the more I appreciate just how hard it is to do it really well. Today’s blog post features four resources to help with various aspects of speaking and presenting. Please...
