Trust is not a gift. It is earned in deeds done, and wars won. – Anonymous

Trust between two professionals is a hard-won accomplishment. There isn’t a sin I haven’t committed when it comes to trust. When the company grew, I found myself doing annoying and downright rude habits with my colleagues. I micro-managed, I second-guess people’s motives , I undermine work being done by checking in randomly, then asking questions that I knew couldn’t be answered on the spot.  Sometimes I realized what I was doing, and stopped. But I’m sure I didn’t recognize my bad habits all the times (hence, why they’re bad habits) and that gives me cause for pause.

As my brother Dom says, “perception is reality.” I find that as my stress increases, my trust that “stuff getting down”-ness in the company decreases. It can turn into a negative spiral that leads to hurt feelings and lower morale. The best we can do is fight the insecurities and remember the good character and intentions of those upon who you rely.  Hemingway said it well – “‘The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”

That said, once we take the first step in trusting, it’s nice to verify. Thanks Ronald…