"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful." Edward R. Murrow

I am an enthusiast of LinkedIn for a few reasons, but one of them is seeing how my clients and colleagues share their views. There’s been a recent run on polling about leadership traits, prompting responses like passion, vison, drive, integrity, persistence, humility. From my vantage point, it is most important to have the ability to inspire trust and to be considered trustworthy by those around me.

People will not identify with someone as worthy to do business with, work for, or to take seriously unless they trust them. We all have the gut check; is the person honest; can I trust them, and are they truthful, or is there foul play below the surface? We live in a world of smoke and mirrors. It can be tempting to take the easy route and project the illusion or status quo to gain what we want or cover up what we rather not own up to.  At some point those leaders do crash and burn, be it in their professional careers, personal relationships or their own self-respect.

When I look at my relationships both in and outside of my professional life, I think people would say I can be trusted to do what I say, am transparent in my motives and own up to what is at stake.

This line of thought brought me back to an ANE post in 2013.

Trust Survey: Before your week begins, picture the close colleagues, customers and family with whom you engage. For each, rate your level of trust that the relationship will be creative, collaborative and productive this week. Your Trust Index is the percentage of all those whom you hold as high-trust and high-productivity. What's your score?

When you think of your own Trust Index, try seeing it as a reflection of your own inner core in some small way.

The solution lies in unblocking the pathways. How? Through the inner core strengthening work of forgiveness and truthful, respectful, dialog.

Mary Ryan, Board Trustee, A New Equilibrium

Join us this Tuesday as we share together our methods of breaking cycles within our organizations.

Mary Ryan hosts an Inspired Leadership in 30 phone call
Tuesday, July 21, 7:30 a.m.
Call in number: (712) 775-7031
Enter ID #: 251-410-597