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Posted Feb. 16, 2009 7:06 a.m. by tom-ehrenfeld
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog
Thanks to Stephen Covey and the folks at FSB Associates for the following article. Mr. Covey will be the keynote speaker at Linkage's 11th Annual "Best of Organization Development Summit" in Chicago, May 12-14, 2009.
How the Best Leaders Build Trust
By Stephen M. R. Covey
Almost everywhere we turn, trust is on the decline. Trust in our culture at large, in our institutions, and in our companies is significantly lower than a generation ago. Research shows that only 49% of employees trust senior management, and only 28% believe CEOs are a credible source of information. Consider the loss of trust and confidence in the financial markets today. Indeed, "trust makes the world go 'round," and right now we're experiencing a crisis of trust. This crisis compels us to ask three questions. First, is there a measurable cost to low trust? Second, is there a tangible benefit to high trust? Third, how can the best leaders build trust in and within their organizations to reap the benefits of high trust?
Most people don't know how to think about the organizational and societal consequences of low trust because they don't know how to quantify or measure the costs of such a so-called "soft" factor as trust. For many, trust is intangible, ethereal, unquantifiable. If it remains that way, then people don't know how to get their arms around it or how to improve it. But the fact is, the costs of low trust are very real, they are quantifiable, and they are staggering.
In 2004, one estimate put the cost of complying with federal rules and regulations alone in the United States -- put in place essentially due to lack of trust -- at $1.1 trillion, which is more than 10% of the gross domestic product. A recent study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimated that the average American company lost 6% of its annual revenue to some sort of fraudulent activity. Research shows similar effects for the other disguised low-trust taxes as well.
Think about it this way: When trust is low, in a company or in a relationship, it places a hidden "tax" on every transaction: every communication, every interaction, every strategy, every decision is taxed, bringing speed down and sending costs up. My experience is that significant distrust doubles the cost of doing business and triples the time it takes to get things done.
By contrast, individuals and organizations that have earned and operate with high trust experience the opposite of a tax -- a "dividend" that is like a performance multiplier, enabling them to succeed in their communications, interactions, and decisions, and to move with incredible speed. A recent Watson Wyatt study showed that high trust companies outperform low trust companies by nearly 300%!
I contend that the ability to establish, grow, extend, and (where needed) restore trust among stakeholders is the critical competency of leadership needed today. It is needed more than any other competency. Engendering trust is, in fact, a competency that can be learned, applied, and understood. It is something that you can get good at, something you can measure and improve, something for which you can "move the needle." You cannot be an effective leader without trust. As Warren Bennis put it, "Leadership without mutual trust is a contradiction in terms."
How do the best leaders build trust?
The first job of any leader is to inspire trust. Trust is confidence born of two dimensions: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, motive, and intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, skills, results, and track record. Both dimensions are vital.
With the increasing focus on ethics in our society, the character side of trust is fast becoming the price of entry in the new global economy. However, the differentiating and often ignored side of trust -- competence -- is equally essential. You might think a person is sincere, even honest, but you won't trust that person fully if he or she doesn't get results. And the opposite is true. A person might have great skills and talents and a good track record, but if he or she is not honest, you're not going to trust that person either.
The best leaders begin by framing trust in economic terms for their companies. When an organization recognizes that it has low trust, huge economic consequences can be expected. Everything will take longer and everything will cost more because of the steps organizations will need to take to compensate for their lack of trust. These costs can be quantified and, when they are, suddenly leaders recognize how low trust is not merely a social issue, but that it is an economic matter. The dividends of high trust can be similarly quantified, enabling leaders to make a compelling business case for trust.
The best leaders then focus on making the creation of trust an explicit objective. It must become like any other goal that is focused on, measured, and improved. It must be communicated that trust matters to management and leadership. It must be expressed that it is the right thing to do and it is the economic thing to do. One of the best ways to do this is to make an initial baseline measurement of organizational trust and then to track improvements over time.
The true transformation starts with building credibility at the personal level. The foundation of trust is your own credibility, and it can be a real differentiator for any leader. A person's reputation is a direct reflection of their credibility, and it precedes them in any interactions or negotiations they might have. When a leader's credibility and reputation are high, it enables them to establish trust fast -- speed goes up, cost goes down.
There are 4 Cores of Credibility, and it's about all 4 Cores working in tandem—Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, and Results. Part of building trust is understanding -- clarifying -- what the organization wants and what you can offer them. Be the one that does that best. Then add to your credibility the kind of behavior that builds trust. (see the 13 high trust behaviors below). Next, take it beyond just you as the leader and extend it to your entire organization. The combination of that type of credibility and behavior and organizational alignment results in a culture of high trust.
Consider the example of Warren Buffett -- CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (and generally considered one of the most trusted leaders in the world) -- who completed a major acquisition of McLane Distribution (a $23 billion company) from Wal-Mart. As public companies, both Berkshire Hathaway and Wal-Mart are subject to all kinds of market and regulatory scrutiny. Typically, a merger of this size would take several months to complete and cost several million dollars to pay for accountants, auditors, and attorneys to verify and validate all kinds of information. But in this instance, because both parties operated with high trust, the deal was made with one two-hour meeting and a handshake. In less than a month, it was completed. High trust, high speed, low cost.
13 Behaviors of High-Trust Leaders Worldwide
I approach this strategy primarily as a practitioner, both in my own experience and in my extensive work with other organizations. Throughout this learning process, have identified 13 common behaviors of trusted leaders around the world that build -- and allow you to maintain -- trust. When you adopt these ways of behaving, it's like making deposits into a "trust account" of another party.
1. Talk Straight
2. Demonstrate Respect
3. Create Transparency
4. Right Wrongs
5. Show Loyalty
6. Deliver Results
7. Get Better
8. Confront Reality
9. Clarify Expectation
10. Practice Accountability
11. Listen First
12. Keep Commitments
13. Extend Trust
Remember that the 13 Behaviors always need to be balanced by each other (e.g., Talk Straight needs to be balanced by Demonstrate Respect) and that any behavior pushed to the extreme can become a weakness.
Depending on your roles and responsibilities, you may have more or less influence on others. However, you can always have extraordinary influence on your starting points: Self-Trust (the confidence you have in yourself -- in your ability to set and achieve goals, to keep commitments, to walk your talk, and also with your ability to inspire trust in others) and Relationship Trust (how to establish and increase the trust accounts we have with others).
The job of a leader is to go first, to extend trust first. Not a blind trust without expectations and accountability, but rather a "smart trust" with clear expectations and strong accountability built into the process. The best leaders always lead out with a decided propensity to trust, as opposed to a propensity not to trust. As Craig Weatherup, former CEO of PepsiCo said, "Trust cannot become a performance multiplier unless the leader is prepared to go first."
The best leaders recognize that trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year. It undergirds and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture, every effort in which we are engaged. It changes the quality of every present moment and alters the trajectory and outcome of every future moment of our lives -- both personally and professionally. I am convinced that in every situation, nothing is as fast as the speed of trust.
Copyright (c) 2009 Stephen M. R. Covey author of The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
Author Bio
Stephen M. R. Covey is the author of The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything and keynote speaker at Linkage's Eleventh Annual Best of Organization Development Summit in Chicago, IL, May 12-14, 2009. For more information on the Summit, visit linkageinc.com.
Reviewing Reviews
Posted Sept. 26, 2008 6:30 a.m. by dylan
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog
Heather Green has written a wonderful review of Jeff Howe's Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business for the September 29 issue of BusinessWeek. After observing that "Books about the crowd are becoming a crowd unto themselves," Green writes:
What sets Howe's book apart is his focus on business, an examination of different crowdsourcing models, and a deep dive into academic research to explain why people work together. It's a welcome and well-written corporate playbook for confusing times...
In his most recent article for Portfolio, "In Praise of Big Brother," Roger Lowenstein casts a somewhat leery eye at Stephen Baker's The Numerati. He begins:
Stephen Baker envisions a world in which our email and blog postings, our credit-card and grocery purchases, our pulse rates and facial expressions, and even our physical movements (handily tracked by our cell phones) will be fed to a new Brahmin class of math geeks devoted to sending us customized shopping choices, targeted political ads, real-time medical alerts, and the names of potential dating partners, not to mention (lest we be shirking on the job or hiding an illness) alerts to our bosses and insurance companies.
While that sounds awfully scary to me, the author is of the mind that this technology will one day empower us. Regardless of how you feel about these issues, the book does seem very informative and worth a read. Lowenstein describes Baker a "charming writer," and ends the review by calling the book "eye-popping and chilling."
David K. Hurst reveiws four books in the Autumn issue of strategy + business's Books in Brief. The first, Richard Bookstaber's Demon of Our Own Design, was awarded the top spot in the Finance & Economics category of our first annual book awards. The other three books are Stall Points: Most Companies Stop Growing--Yours Doesn't Have To by Matthew Olson and Derek Van Bever, Michael O'Leary: A Life In Full Flight by Alan Ruddock, and Tad Waddington's Lasting Contribution: How to Think, Plan, and Act to Accomplish Meaningful Work.
Fortune's Jia Lynn Yang has picked "eight volumes [that] belong in everyone's briefcase." Of course, Fortune doesn't make this list available online, but the chosen titles are:
Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America by Walter A. Friedman
Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story by Jerry Weissman
Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results by Jack Mitchell
Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath
The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies by Robert B. Miller & Stephen E. Heiman
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher & William Ury
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Rich Karlgaard has written an update to his "Books to Get Rich By" for Forbes. (You can find the original list of 53 books here.) The lists are broken up into six categories: History and Heroes, How Capitalism Works Today, Instructional Tips, Management Secrets, Food for the Soul, and Useful Entertainment. While the list is too long to list all of the titles, I have listed the entire "Management Secrets" section below.
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andrew S. Grove
Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths That Are Destroying Your Property by Garret B. Gunderson
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey with Rebecca M. Merrill
Did you notice that Stephen Covey picked up an initial sometime between 7 Habits and Speed of Trust? (edit: As the brilliant Seth Godin has pointed out in the comment section, Stephen M.R. Covey is the eldest son of Stephen R. Covey. I had not known this previously. Don't let it be said business books aren't a family business.) Notable titles from other sections are John Kao's Innovation Nation and Fareed Zakaria's Post American World from "How Capitalism Works Today," Dan Pink's Adventures of Johnny Bunko from "Instructional Tipps," Randy Pausch's Last Lecture form "Food for the Soul," and Michael Lewis's Blind Side from "Useful Entertainment."
800-CEO-READ 2007 Best Sellers
Posted Feb. 5, 2008 2:12 a.m. by kate
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog
Below you'll find the list of our top 25 bestsellers for 2007. Congratulations and thanks to everyone on the list!
- The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything
by Stephen M.R. Covey, Rebecca R. Merrill; Free Press.
Leadership expert Stephen Covey uncovers why trust is vital in professional and personal relationships. - True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership
by Bill George and Peter Sims; Jossey-Bass.
Former Medtronic CEO Bill George and coauthor Peter Sims share the wisdom of 125 outstanding leaders of today and describe how you can develop as an authentic leader. - It's Your Ship
by D. Michael Abrashoff; Warner Business Books.Business managers will benefit from Abrashoff's guiding belief that focus should be on empowering your people rather than on chain of command.
- Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth
by David Thomson; John Wiley & Sons.Follow this blueprint to turn your idea into the next multi-billion dollar company.
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath, Dan Heath; Random House.The brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier.
- Unlock Behavior, Unleash Profits: Developing Leadership Behavior That Drives Profitability in Your Organization
by Leslie Wilk Braksick; McGraw-Hill.Fortune 500 thought leader Leslie Braksick provides powerful tools to help you, whether you're an executive, entrepreneur, or manager, in any field, to unlock behavior and unleash unprecedented profits.
- Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message
by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba; Kaplan.A provocative new exploration of the ramifications of today's burgeoning social media.
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
by Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter; Hyperion.One of the nation's most sought-after executive coaches shows how subtle changes can make all the difference when climbing those last few rungs of the corporate ladder.
- The Power of Nice
by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval; Currency.In business, nice guys (and gals) really do finish first.
- Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn't Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now
by Vickie L. Milazzo; John Wiley & Sons.Discover and use your strengths to pursue your dreams.
- The Long Tail
by Chris Anderson; Hyperion.The Long Tail was coined by Chris Anderson to describe the recent development of endless niche markets.
- Mass Career Customization: Aligning the Workplace With Today's Nontraditional Workforce
by Cathleen Benko, Anne Weisberg; Harvard Business School Press.This book is centered on the powerful insight that career options in today’s economy need to accommodate the rising and falling phases of employee engagement as it changes over time.
- The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life
by Loral Langemeier; McGraw-Hill.Whether you want to partner with others or create your own team to start, fix, or buy a business, Langemeier shows you how to turn it into a Cash Machine that makes money from Day One.
- The Flip Side: Break Free of the Behaviors That Hold You Back
by Flip Flippen; Springboard Press.Flippen presents a simple process for learning how to identify our personal constraints and take the necessary steps to correct self-limiting behaviors. He shows that we will experience a dramatic surge in productivity, achieve things we have only dreamed of, and find greater happiness overall.
- Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience
by Jonathan M. Tisch, Karl Weber; Wiley.Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough will show you how to improve every customer touch point; understand what customers really want and need; and design organizational structures to meet those needs.
- Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation
by James P. Andrew, Harold L. Sirkin, John Butman; Harvard Business School Press.Payback offers a new way to think about and manage innovation.
- Finding the Next Starbucks: How to Identify and Invest in the Hot Stocks of Tomorrow
by Michael Moe; Portfolio.Learn how winners like Dell, eBay, and Home Depot could have been spotted in their start-up phase and how you can find Wall Street’s future giants.
- The Strategy Paradox: Why committing to success leads to failure (and what to do about it)
by Michael E. Raynor; Currency.Raynor sheds light on the collision between commitment and uncertainty that many managers face in the pursuit for success. He presents a concrete framework for strategic action that allows companies to seize today’s opportunities while preparing for an uncertain future.
- The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
by Tommy Newberry; Tyndale House Publishers.Whether you are at a low point or a high point in your life, the authors assert that The 4:8 Principle can help you experience joy by design--God's design.
- Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne; Harvard Business School Press.The authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating blue oceans--untapped new market spaces ripe for growth.
- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
by Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams; Portfolio.Smart firms can harness the collective capability and genius of online communities to spur innovation, growth, and success.
- StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths
by Tom Rath; Gallup Press.This strengths reference, accompanied by a code for an online assessment test, is an extension of the original StrengthsFinder, now updated with a customized version of your top 5 strengths and a guide for applying your strengths in the world.
- QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life
by John G. Miller; Putnam Publishing Group.QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, already a phenomenon in its self-published edition, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability.
- I Didn't See it Coming: The Only Book You'll Ever Need to Avoid Being Blindsided in Business
by Nancy C. Widmann, Elaine J. Eisenman, Amy Dorn Kopelan; Wiley.The authors provide critical counsel and keen observation on how all employees can develop strategic insights, effective tools, and sharp instincts for reading the room and controlling their own career destiny.
- The Starbucks Experience
by Joseph Michelli; McGraw-Hill.Michelli reveals how you can follow the Starbucks way to...reach out to entire communities, listen to individual workers and consumers, seize growth opportunities in every market, and custom-design a truly satisfying experience that benefits everyone involved.
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If you'd like a PDF of our 2007 bestseller list, click here. If you're interested, we publish a monthly bestseller list here.
