Today and yesterday I had 4 different meetings or calls that dealt with trust. Business deals, customer orders, dealing with IRS, dealing with a friend’s up line in a MLM and dealing with an adult child.

People were afraid to move forward because there was limited trust. Lack of trust can stop it all. It seems our economy, political system, the advancement of society all suffer the effects of the lack of trust.

MLM’s(multi level marketing) are famous for destroying relationships due to greediness, lack of communication and looking at people as a pay check instead of as a teammate/family. Many organizations talk a good game but only the successful ones practice trust and care. I have heard many organizations quote -“they will never know what you know until they know you care”. Practicing this philosophy seems to be much more difficult and often escapes the action management/leadership follow day by day.

Steven Covey in his bestseller – Speed of Trust describes how the lack of trust creates a -“trust tax” and costs money or valuable time. Covey also talks of a “trust dividend” which is the pay off if businesses or people trust you. This “dividend” should be what we all shoot for in each of our relationships. We will probably down the road revisit this concept but I highly recommend this book as a great read that explains this concept in detail.

Ask yourself if the way you handled yourself today cost you a relationship tax or earned you a trust dividend in someone’s eyes.

MLM leaders, sales folks this is so critical for you. Understand and apply these principles before it’s too late.