Three Ways to Build Your Leadership Trust Account

Trust forms the foundation of leadership, functioning like a bank account where we make deposits through positive actions and withdrawals through negative behaviors.

• Trust requires doing what you say, saying what you do, and being authentically human in all interactions
• It often takes "99 attaboys to make up for one aw crap moment" in leadership
• When trust is broken, asking for forgiveness isn't enough—behavior change is essential
• Apologizing without changing behavior is like "patching a bucket while still running water into it"
• The Platinum Rule suggests treating others how they want to be treated, not just how you want to be treated
• Building trust requires consistent deposits that accumulate interest over time

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Chapters

• 0:00 Weekly Leadership Highlights Introduction
• 1:16 Trust As A Leadership Bank Account
• 3:02 Rebuilding After Trust Withdrawals
• 5:25 Golden Rule In Leadership
• 5:48 After Show Wrap-up

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

It sometimes feels like it takes 99 attaboys to make up for one aw crap moment. So at its core it's simple Do what you say, say what you do and be authentically human in your interactions with others. But simple doesn't always mean easy Common leaders. Welcome back to the after show. This is like your weekly dose of leadership insights. A chance for me to summarize, if you will, a great conversation I've had recently on the Uncommon Leader podcast. You can kind of treat it like your leadership highlights, so to speak, that you might watch after a football game. It's the After Show and I want to add some of my key points for you and help you to take away some actionable insights from my conversations that I have.

Speaker 1: 0:49

This week I had an incredible conversation with the author of Endless Customers. His name was Marcus Sheridan and he really had a chance to share with us some powerful insights on closing what he referred to as the trust deficit with customers, and he talked about business, but I think this correlates so much with leadership as well, and he and I touched on that just a little bit, that I couldn't think how it perfectly lines up to the principles of leadership. So he gave us four key points. He said, to say what others aren't willing to say. Show what others aren't willing to show. Sell how others aren't willing to sell. And his fourth point be more human than others are willing to be. So let's dig into that a little bit. Think of that from again, from a leadership standpoint. My favorite leadership book of all time, the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C Maxwell, law number six is the law of solid ground, and in that chapter he says that trust is the foundation of leadership, and I don't think there's anything that's more true in that today. You know, I really believe that that book, frankly, is one that all leaders should read as required reading as they get started on their leadership journey. But enough about my marketing of John Maxwell's books. He does a good enough job with that. But enough about my marketing of John Maxwell's books. He does a good enough job with that.

Speaker 1: 2:07

Ultimately, when I think of this trust word, I think of it like a bank account and we have to make deposits and we got to make withdrawals to that bank account. That's what happens ultimately. When you make more withdrawals than you make deposits, then you lose the influence in your leadership and it becomes very difficult. Now how do we make those withdrawals? Some of those happen when you don't do something that you make a commitment in doing, or some of them when you act out and yell in a situation and ultimately less human than you usually are and folks get defensive. In that it's like when someone says I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and like it's supposed to justify their behavior and justify some of those things. And you know, I wish it were that simple and even something I could do as well. But if you realize you've woken up on the wrong side of the bed, why don't you just get back into bed and get back out on the other side? Or if you know which side is the bad side, go ahead and push that side up against the wall so you can't get out of it anymore. The fact is we have no excuses for making those withdrawals, and so what's the challenge I mean ultimately, if we treat it like a bank account and we try to maintain a positive account, more deposits than withdrawals.

Speaker 1: 3:20

It's important to understand that those withdrawals are often more difficult to overcome. With deposits, it sometimes feels like it takes 99 attaboys to make up for one aw crap moment. So at its core. It's simple Do what you say, say what you do and be authentically human in your interactions with others. But simple doesn't always mean easy. If you've got a negative balance in your trust account with someone that you're going to chat with, what do you do? We got to ask for forgiveness and I encourage you to understand not to expect immediate acceptance of that. You've got to change your behaviors. People will forgive, but they don't forget some of those things, especially if there's been some bad withdrawals. And you've got to change your behaviors as a leader. If you ask for forgiveness or you apologize to someone for some activity, yet you don't change your behavior, frankly, there's nothing really worse than that, and I've heard it referred to as trying to patch a bucket while still running water into the bucket. It just doesn't work. It doesn't make it easy. So you've got to make sure that when you apologize, that when you ask for forgiveness, you are changing your behavior so that you're making more deposits back into that trust account than you make withdrawals One of the things that I also believe through this.

Speaker 1: 4:36

You can read that in scripture as well. Matthew 7, 12 says so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law. That's about as clear as it gets and something and people have often referred to that as a golden rule. I even like to subscribe to the platinum rule myself, which is the golden rule plus, which ultimately is treating people the way they would like to be treated not just how you want to be treated, but how they want to be treated. If you made too many withdrawals, no doubt about it one of the most important things you can do is ask for forgiveness and then, more importantly, change your behavior going forward and make more deposits into that account, treat others with the same respect and humility that you wish they would show you, and watch that trust account fill back up again, put a positive account in there and start to accumulate interest on that as you go. Well, that's the after show for today. Folks, remember, trust is the foundation of leadership. Without it, your effectiveness as a leader is going to be severely diminished. Make those deposits and avoid those withdrawals as much as you can, and go back and listen to my full episode with Marcus Sheridan as he talks about some of his incredible insights on his new book, endless Customers.

Speaker 1: 5:48

And if this episode has resonated with you just a little bit. Please share it with someone who needs to hear it. We can get it in the hands of more uncommon listeners like you that need to hear this message. And if you get a chance, go ahead and leave a five-star review. I would appreciate it. And until next time, go and grow champions. And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who could benefit from the insights and inspiration we've shared. Also, if you have a moment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback not only helps us to improve, but it also helps others discover the podcast and join our growing community of uncommon leaders. Until next time, go and grow champions.