The Trust In All of Us
Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison explains what it takes for a leader to gain the trust of employees.
Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry. For more career advice, read his latest book, I Need a Job!
“Don’t you trust me?”
“You know… I’m telling the truth.”
“You do believe me… right?”
We hear versions of these phrases all the time.
Or… “Trust me.” If ever two words have the opposite effect of their intended meaning, it’s these.
Yet, what’s interesting is that none of these statements are really about trust alone. They’re about something deeper.
After all, trust rarely appears out of nowhere. It’s an accumulation of experiences. Authenticity creates transparency. Transparency fosters honesty. Honesty, consistently demonstrated, builds trust. And when trust becomes strong enough, it evolves into something even more powerful: belief.
Every organization and team today requires capability and performance. Without them, it’s a non-starter. Yet the real catalyst is people trusting and believing in each other—and in something bigger than each of them and all of them.
And, we’re not likely to give our trust to just anyone. Trust is an investment that earns interest over time. To truly trust another person, there needs to be a two-way contract of sorts—a promise based on character and follow-through.
Being trustworthy is the other side of the same coin. Trustworthiness literally means being worthy of others’ trust. And it’s something we can all aspire to—a leadership trait that matters even more these days.
Our words alone won’t suffice when it comes to being perceived as trustworthy. Far more important is what others experience from us. For leaders, it’s saying what we mean and meaning what we say, with no daylight between the two.
That’s why the trustworthiness we want to see in others actually starts with ourselves. As much as we might like to think of ourselves as being trustworthy, it’s our actions aligned with our words that matter most.
If there is a higher level of trust—it’s believing in others. Everyone has their own truth, and leadership is taking that self-truth and making it shared truth. Not just believing in people but believing for them and with them.
After all, leadership is about inspiring others to believe, then enabling that belief to become reality. And, ultimately, it’s about getting out of their way.
You just gotta trust me on this….
