cover story
In a low-trust world we need leaders and organisations that can be trusted, that can give hope and optimism, says StephenMR Covey, author ofTheSpeedofTrust. Colombia is an extreme example of what can be achieved, he tells Ann O’Dea
Once you understand the nature of trust, the dimen- sions behind it, the behaviours that build it, you can cre- ate, establish and grow it faster than you might think possible. “And when you have trust in a relationship, with a customer, a partner, a colleague in an organisa- tion, everything happens much faster and costs you less. I call it the trust dividend.” So says Stephen M R Covey – no, not that Stephen
Covey, author of The SevenHabits ofHighly Effective People, but his son, himself the author of TheNew York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller The Speed of Trust. In his book, Covey says that trust is a hard-edged,
economic driver – a learnable and measurable skill that makes organisations more profitable, people more pro- motable, and relationships more energising. Indeed he argues that the ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust with all stakeholders is the critical leader- ship competency of today’s global economy.
THE TRUST DIVIDEND We caught up with the younger Covey as he delivered
a keynote speech in London in April, and discussed the clear crisis in trust in recent years, given the financial crisis and its mishandling by many in both the private and public sector. The restoration of trust is vital at a societal level, says Covey, because trust always affects two outcomes – speed and cost. “When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up,” he says. “Just look at the time and cost of airport security after 9/11 or the costs for compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in the US after Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals.” Conversely, when trust goes up, speed goes up and cost
goes down, says Covey, who points to the acquisition by Warren Buffett of McLane Distribution fromWal-Mart in 2003. “That was completed on the basis of a two-hour meeting. Because of high trust between the parties, the merger took less than a month and avoided the usual
14 Irish Director Summer 2011
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