"What Business Leaders Fail to Understand about Trust"

People do not get caught because they are stupid, they get caught because they are damn arrogant, they think that they occupy a position of power and that their audience are less informed than they are! How sad and silly, has no one realised that we live in an infocomm world where knowledge and information are so readily available. There is no more hiding, everything we do is in the public domain, don't believe me..... as you drive around the city, look up and see the number of cameras that are on the poles, even at the same spot!

In today's Starbiz there is an article with the above title, purportedly written by the managing partner of a big 4 professional services firm! Being written by the managing partner of a Big 4 professional services firm it goes without saying that the highest standards of professionalism, probity and trust is expected of the writer and his organisation by the ordinary people, which I think is not an unfair expectation.

In the article it is stated that people are looking for the following, if a company is to be considered trustworthy;

• Competence
• Experience
• Value

Now all three of these elements by coincidence are linked to the people dimension and hence culture, so I think its only fair that the some questions are asked of the writer/commentator himself;

1. By publishing this article are you suggesting that many clients of the firm need a serious dose of trust or is this a subtle message to your banking client? Now irrespective of whichever it maybe, why not come out and say, trust your integrity and professionalism, surely you must believe that the stakeholders of these companies that have a trust deficiency have a right to know!
2. Demanding such elements from companies I can only gather that in the organisation that you manage these elements are at the core and practiced without exception!
3. In your second last para you say, "so why can't businesses be that something", I presume that it does not include your firm and the other firms that belong too in your profession.
4. Finally your last para calls out to corporate leaders. Why only corporate leaders not everyone? Surely trust is for everyone, not just corporate leaders!

What is that saying, put the brain into gear first, maybe all these articles etc(pseudo marketing and arrogance I call it), should take a back seat, improve that standards on auditing first, make sure that when people see you and your firm there is a resounding chorus of "trustworthy organisation and people, total reliance on what they say!"

Always remember less is more!