As leaders in our businesses, it is critical that we earn trust with our customers, employees and with those in our business network.
And trust is made up of two components, character and competency.
Character is all about who we are.
Competency is all about what we do.
To have good character means we talk straight with people and respect others.
It also means we are transparent and show loyalty.
Competency is just as important and comes by facing reality, delivering results and being accountable to those results.
What behaviors can business owners use to earn the trust of the people in their sphere?
Always listen first.
Keep your commitments
And do not be not afraid to extend trust.
I had a case this past week where I reached into my business network and in the end was not able to trust a person.
They lacked character because they didn’t have respect for others because they sat talking bad about two other people.
They also did not keep the commitments they made to me.
It isn’t because they are a bad person, they just need to understand that character and competency count.
As Warren Buffet said, ”It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”
Do you exhibit these traits?
What would you add?