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Trust and Leadership Should be Synonymous

By on November 7, 2009 in Business, Leadership Books, Social Media, strategic planning, Trust, Values

Principles of Collaborative TrustI recently had a fast-paced hour-long conversation with Robert Porter Lynch, author, teacher, speaker, champion of increasing the experience of trusting leaders.  He observed that if trust in our leaders isn’t repaired in the United States, we as a nation are threatened to our very core.   Here are the LynchPrinciples — please download the PDF file.

Robert is writing a book on trust and leadership — he is Building a System of Trust.  He spends his life on airplanes in academic and business contexts, talking about what causes trust, conversely what causes distrust, and the impacts on business and life.

I then attended a conference on social media where I learned a term, “crowd sourcing,” revolving around our need to go to our friends for advice, people, resources because authority as we have known it cannot be trusted.

Decisions are made based on assumptions, and sometimes those assumptions prove false.  Consider these recent, faulty assumptions.   Real estate values always go up.  Financial institutions hold your money safely while you don’t need it. Retirement funds are managed to out-maneuver real risks.

These  eight principles of collaborative trust from Robert’s book that is coming out in the fall of 2010 provides reminders of what is important.  We are all leaders of our own lives, and we could choose not only to embrace them, but speak about them, remind others about them — in other words, Share them!  Encourage them!


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Biomimicry — Innovation Inspired by Nature, a Veritable "Thing-a-thon"!

By on October 3, 2009 in Biomimicry, Business, Perspectives, strategy

Biomimicry is a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems.  My husband Larry was introduced to Janine by her board member and lawyer in San Francisco, Susan McCormick.  Based on her enthusiasm, Larry bought Janine’s book, Biomimicry, Innovation Inspired by Nature.  He hadn’t been able to get that book out of his head, so when he learned Janine was speaking at the San Diego Zoo on October 2nd, he invited her to dinner and she accepted.

Larry envisions San Diego being part of Janine’s future plans for Biomimicry to commercialize some of the myriad of possible innovative products.  San Diego is an incubator city for technology and biotech in a collaborative way.  In attendance were Joe Panetta, President and CEO of Biocom, Duane Roth, CEO of Connect, and Ruprecht von Buttlar, Director of Connect’s Commercialization and Finance Programs.  They  tangibly substantiated the collaborative nature of our fine city.  Duane, for example, shared the growth of the Sorrento Mesa area into fifty research institutes today.

I like Janine, she’s genuine, warm and quick.  This video clip from our evening provides an example of her witty humor and her grasp of a future view.  Toward the end of dinner I couldn’t help myself.  I turned to Janine and said, “Most entrepreneurs are trying to develop ONE product.  Biomimicry is a veritable thing-a-thon!”  While we had a good laugh, it is true.  Biology makes way for so many innovations it is mind-boggling.  Janine’s book Biomimicry was based on research into at least 2,000 strategies for potential products that could be commercialized.  Need I say you should pick up a copy of that book?


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How do Your Leaders Foster Your Trust?

By on July 21, 2009 in Business, business planning, Perspectives, strategic planning, strategy, Trust, Values

imagesI believe that true leaders foster trust, that leadership is earned, and that it is granted by followers.  “Leadership” is a way of being with people such that others want what the leader stands for.  Leadership is not about position power.  It might be about charisma for awhile, but if the leader does not deliver what is promised, charisma will not hold the followers’ trust.

I just made a significant assertion and would like to test it out.  I would like to know if you see YOUR leaders fostering YOUR trust, and if so, how?  By leaders, I do not mean “representative” leaders, those whom you know only by reputation with whom you have had no personal experience.  I mean leaders whom you follow because of who they are being and what they stand for.  You might have chosen to work at a company because of exceptional leadership and your trust in that individual, or team.  You might attend a particular church because of the minister and their leadership in the area of spirituality.  You might have joined a not for profit because the leader was successful in enrolling you in the cause, and embodied a trusting presence.  I am wondering about your PERSONAL experience of leaders fostering trust.

We have experienced significant disappointment in leaders in recent months who have demonstrated the antithesis of fostering trust.  The newspapers are full of stories about business leaders at AIG, car manufacturers, financial institutions of all kinds, and political leaders who put self-interest before the interest of customers.  Self-interest at a senior executive level does not foster trust!  I have personally seen a great leader painted with the same brush because of the press around poor leadership. These disappointments, although maybe not personal, can damage our willingness to trust.

The issue of leaders fostering trust is subtle and powerful.  If I were to conduct a survey, what issues would I need to include in that survey to generate an understanding of what, in a leader, fosters trust?  I welcome your comments, your questions, your concerns.


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