1124: Promise and Wait

Trust is the most under-valued and under-discussed quality in business. Here’s why … Four years ago, we brought Tala back from Battersea Dogs Home.  She was our 3rd Collie, but our first rescue dog. I admit, I had doubts. She'd been found, tied up and abandoned near some derelict outbuildings in the north of England. For reasons I prefer not to think about, she was particularly scared of men. She hid beneath the kitchen table for days, eventually learning to trust my wife and kids. With me, she kept her distance for weeks and months, but I wasn’t worried. I knew I had to build trust, and building trust is easy.  Here’s how it works. 1) Make a small promise. 2) Keep it. 3) Make a slightly bigger promise. 4) Keep it. 5) Repeat. In Tala’s case, the promises were easy to make. Never move too quickly. Never shout. Never raise a hand. Wait for her to come to me. The key word here is 'wait', because waiting is something we aren’t that good at in business. We want the leads now, the sales now, the money now. That’s why trust is undervalued and under-discussed. Because we can’t buy it, borrow it or hack it. You can only keep our promises, and wait. ------------------- The Stories Mean Business podcast with Nick Warren. One Idea A Day, Every Day. Get deeper into business storytelling: https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/storybusiness/ https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/podcast