Leadership Trust
December 6, 2008 by Miki Saxon
In celebration of their Centennial this year Harvard Business School added a discussion section to their website. The current discussion is Leadership in the 21st Century.
“The Conversation is question- or topic-based dialogue between two conversation leads and our Centennial- site visitors.”
One of the current topic leaders is Nitin Nohria, who says, “Leaders (in business and government) have lost the public trust. … What has caused this loss in trust and how can it be best restored?”
The discussion engendered is intelligent, interesting, and well worth reading.
I find, looking at just the first part of the question, why did I lose trust, that my response is relatively simple.
When I see ego as the trump card, influencing and overshadowing all other considerations, then I no longer trust that person to make valid decisions.
This applies whether
- the person is my neighbor, who only thinks about what works for her;
- the President, who turned a blind eye to anything that didn’t agree with his preconceived ideas;
- the corporate heads, who focused on improving their compensation with no consideration for the fallout; or
- Wall Street, which has deified short-term actions that raise stock prices while gutting the long-term viability of companies.
What actions make you lose trust?
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: flickr