In the absence of a smile
by From Volume 15, Issue 6:Over a decade ago, I penned an article praising the value of a heartfelt joyful smile. To summarize, it spoke to the virtual impossibility of “faking” a real smile.
Tag: trust
The sky is probably not falling
From Volume 14, Issue 8:The sky is probably not falling.
(I’ll probably rock some boats with this month’s missive!) Back in the 1950s, New Jersey school children practiced air-raid drills in case of an atomic attack—Huddle beneath the window on the east side of the building!—because New York City was in that direction and that’s where the bomb would probably be dropped. Today’s media scare tactics have nothing on what boomers went through.
On the subject of trust
From Volume 12, Issue 5:Trust is the basis of David Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Without trust, teams perform at less than ideal levels trying to gain traction. And I’ve seen teams with high concentrations of trust perform at levels greater than the sum of their parts. I suspect you have as well.
Rally your team with trust, understanding, and camaraderie
From Volume 10, Issue 3:I’ve competed in car rallies for more than 40 years. This motorsport involves racing custom-built sports cars through unpaved or unruly public and private roads in all weather conditions. It occurred to me recently that the rally team—driver, co-driver, service crew, and car constructer—accomplishes much more if we work together in unity, when we’re doing well and even when we make mistakes. Those teams that lack trust, understanding, and camaraderie simply crash. The same concept applies to any professional or recreational team.
Reinterpreting Trust Issues
From Volume 9, Issue 11:Recently, many of my clients are having “trust” issues with employers, supervisors, direct reports, spouses, and family members. Many of us have also had “trust” issues with our presidential candidates. So what is it about trust that gets us so worked up? In the last years of his life, my mentor, Jut Meininger, was attempting to teach me that the foundation of all frustration is expectation. “If you manage your expectations,” he would say, “the level of frustration in your life would evaporate.”
What is trust if not an expectation on steroids?
Trust vs. Trust but Verify
From Volume 7, Issue 3:Trust: the belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc.
Trust but verify, Доверяй, но проверяй (doveryai, no proveryai) is actually Russian in origin, although it is remembered as President Ronald Reagan’s modus operandi during the last days of the Cold War.
If I operate on trust but verify, do I trust? Exploring the difference between trust and verification can help you stop wasting time and energy in relationships at work and at home.
One Common Phrase That Needs to Go
From Volume 6, Issue 2:For the past two months, I’ve been accosted with a certain phrase: trust but verify. Reagan used it to get into Gorbachev’s head during negotiations in the 1980s, and now I’ve heard it first from a client and second from my rally car driver. So I dissected the concept, and here’s what I’ve concluded.