2010: Begin Again - Speed of Trust

“If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself.” – Bob Dylan, Trust Yourself

I think that any success in life has its roots in trust. Trust in others, trust in organizations, and trust in yourself. Trust in yourself is the most important as far as I’m concerned, so right on Mr. Dylan.

In the last couple of days, my life has seen a convergence of elements that all seem to speak to trust. The first, and most publicly obvious, was the Wednesday morning presentation by Stephen M. R. Covey to the employees and students of Lethbridge College.

Covey popped by the college for part of what had to be a very busy 48 hours for him; a presentation Tuesday night to college supporters, one at a Wednesday morning breakfast seminar for local business people, then a wrap up session at the college. Kudos to Mr. Covey for energy! And kudos for a great message, too.

He was sharing concepts from his book, The Speed of Trust – The One Thing that Changes Everything. If you don’t have the book, you might want to get a copy. Well, I guess only if you have contact in some fashion with other human beings. If you don’t, I wouldn’t worry about it.

There was a ton of information in Covey’s presentation and even more in the book. Essentially, he makes the case for trust being about much more than just a social virtue. It’s not just a warm, fuzzy feeling we can have for each other. Covey talks about three big ideas:

1. Trust is an economic driver, not merely a social virtue.
2. Trust is the #1 competency of leadership needed today.
3. Trust is a learnable skill.

Trust has an enormous impact on society. Right now, trust in business is at an all-time low. Gee, I wonder why? Just take a look at the last couple of years and what’s been happening in big business. (Sidenote: That’s one reason why you should be considering a small business of your own in this economy!)

Organizations, businesses and government are all lacking a trust factor. And the costs can be huge. Investing in building honest trust, not something manipulative as demonstrated by those who talk it, but don’t really walk it, is vital for economic recovery.

As a quick example, Covey talks about a Trust Tax and a Trust Dividend. The tax shows when trust is down in a company. Speed or production follows it down while resulting costs can spiral up. The dividend shows when the opposite happens. An increase in trust sees a rise in speed and a decrease in cost. Companies that fail to invest in their people and in building trust in them ultimately pay a cost. A lack of trust can be a prime motivator for your top people to bail on your company and go elsewhere.

Character and Competence

The two sides of trust are character and competence. If both aren’t present in some balance, there will be a lack to trust. Think of people you know or work situations you have experienced. Almost all of us can think of people who’ve had good character, but lacked competence. They can be likable, fun to be around, great people to know. But if they lack competence, trust in them will falter.

Something I’ve seen more of over the years is the opposite – people with competence, but no character. Oh, they know what they’re doing, but they don’t show any real empathy for others. People don’t matter to them. Perhaps they see people as pawns to be used to reach a goal. Sometimes they’ll say or do the right things, but even then it’s more manipulative than sincere. They actually think only of themselves and what they want. Try to have trust in that scenario.

The Five Waves of Trust

The last thing I’ll share from Covey’s presentation is the flow of trust. Covey talked about the Five Waves of Trust. The visual is a drop of water falling into pool and causing ripples to flow out. Each ripple represents another level in the flow of trust. The Five Waves are:

1. Self trust. (See, Bob Dylan and I are on the save wave-length!)
2. Relationship trust. Your trust in others grows. You begin to form ‘trust accounts.’
3. Organizational trust. This starts to examine how leadership can create trust in different organizations.
4. Market trust. Earlier ripples start to build and reputation becomes strong. It’s your organization’s brand . . . and your own personal brand. People are now trusting it.
5. Societal trust. By this point, we are giving our earned trust back to others and, in a way, coming full circle as our growing trust of others inspires greater self trust and begins the wave all over again.

I have not done Stephen Covey justice with this brief review. If you are in business, whether a traditional retail or self-employed in a home business, or if you are employed by someone else, building an open and honest trust in your relationships among those with whom you interact is a vital key to success. Get the book and see how you can improve your trust factor.

Photo: Stephen M. R. Covey

Next in 2010: Begin Again

I’ll take a look at the second of the converging elements affecting my thoughts right now – The Quest: A Journey of Spiritual Rediscovery, Chapter 19 – Law of Mind Action and how I believe what we think impacts the very first step in the Five Waves of Trust.

2010: Begin Again: A van-tasy

Dreaming

Are you familiar with the Pepsi ‘Forever Young’ promotion?

I don’t know if this ran in the U.S., but my fellow Canadians will likely recall it. Someone is drinking a Diet Pepsi and the voiceover asks “Is there anything else youthful you'd like to experience?”

Then the person drinking has a flashback to something great from when they were young, sees how it would apply to life today and decides to stick with the Diet Pepsi instead.

The one that gets me is the guy in the minivan who says, “Yeah, I’d like to have my old van back.”

The view cuts to him driving around in this tricked-out Boogie van from the ‘70s with the gaudy mural of the big-breasted warrior woman and her team of saber-toothed cat/bear things. Cue Loverboy’s ‘Working for the Weekend.’ The music pounds, the van rolls and everyone is looking at him. A businessman gives the driver an odd look at a red light. He stops to let the kids out at school and a mother covers her little girl’s eyes as the driver stands leaning up against the van with one hand near one of those massive breasts.

He’s quite embarrassed. He snaps to and says “On second thought, I’ll stick with my Diet Pepsi.”

Wrong answer, dude! See, I had a Boogie van back in the late ‘70s. Yes. Me. And recently I’ve been thinking how great it would be to have one again. That one in the Pepsi ad would be so cool!

There was a very cool van around in 1976 sponsored by Pepsi’s competitor, Coke! Check out the photo I’ve included with this posting. Took me a bit of time to find it. Coke and Levi, the jeans people, teamed up to produce about 25 of these vans, giving them away in contests across North America. I entered a bunch of times, but never did win the van, although someone in Alberta did win one. Very nice custom interior . . . all in Levi denim.

Mine was a Dodge Tradesman B100. It was sort of a copper colour. No exterior mural. Couldn’t afford that. Duel side exhaust. Visor. Flares. No side or rear windows. My friend, Ian, and I worked on the interior. Ian had a Chevy van with a beautiful interior. We had lots of fun doing my van. I’m a klutz with things like that, so Ian was a big help. We built a good bed in back, with a pullout middle section that served as an extra seat and a cooler. Installed wood flooring and ox-blood red faux leather walls. Put in a sunroof.

I loved that van. Every once in a while, deep in a restful sleep, I will dream that I still have it. That it’s been sitting in a garage somewhere all these years and I just have to dust it off, start it up and get back on the road.

It’s a nice reminder that we all have dreams. Often we let the dreams slip away as we ‘mature.’

Life has a way of smacking you upside the head with a two-by-four. Before you know it, you’re working in a career, you’re married, you’ve got kids, the kids grow up and move away (hopefully) and you’re left staring at the fact that so much of what you wanted to do when you were young hasn’t happened.

The goals you had were put on hold, then got lost in the back of that garage in your mind, covered with dust and forgotten about. Part of what 2010: Begin Again means to me is examining those old dreams and seeing about resuscitating them. Can a little mental CPR breath new life into my earlier desires? At least those dreams that still intrigue and interest me.

I like to think it’s never too late to begin again. Take a fresh look at life and see if you’re living the way you really want to, or if you are living the way you have to. There’s a big difference. I’m fortunate to have a job I enjoy working with people I like. Not everyone has that. But there is still more I want to accomplish.

If you’re still in your 20s or 30s, don’t give up on your dreams. Maybe it doesn’t seem like they are possible right now, but if you work a plan to make them happen, you’ve got time. If you’re closer to me in age, I still say don’t surrender to the passage of time. You can still make a plan to achieve, then work your plan.

My plan involves developing second income streams to enhance what I currently earn. This summer I’ve been fortunate to have time to do some research and develop some ideas to achieve that goal.

One of those ideas is to provide others with access to a service that allows people to easily connect, reconnect and stay in touch with friends, family, co-workers clients and just about anyone else through easily customized greeting cards that are printed and mailed for you for less then you could spend on a card purchased in most stores. You can check this out here.

And if you want to see my van, stay tuned. I’m going to try to locate and scan some photos from that era. You’ll get to see me when I was skinny (I was once, you know), had a cheesy moustache and a perm! Hey, it was the ‘70s.

I can skip the cheesy moustache and the perm, but I’d sure like to have the van again!

Cue the music . . .

“Everyone's watching, to see what you will do

Everyone's looking at you, oh

Everyone's wondering, will you come out tonight

Everyone's trying to get it right, get it right

Everybody's working for the weekend

Everybody wants a new romance

Everybody's goin' off the deep end

Everybody needs a second chance, oh”

And fade out . . .

Photo: The machine of a dream. The Coke Denim Machine. I wanted it so badly. To enter the contest you needed to collect bottle cap liners. This was the day of metal bottle caps. I used a magnet on a sting to fish caps out of vending machines. Ya see, in the olden days you'd use the machines built-in bottle opener to pop the metal cap, which would fall into a receptacle below. How primitive!

2010: Begin Again - Finding meaning in strife

So you think you've got it rough . . .

In the 21st century it seems many of us are still pondering the meaning of life. It’s a spiritual conundrum whose answer can confound the best of intensions. As part of spiritual journey, I have borrowed an amazing book from a friend of mine. “Man’s Search for Meaning” was written by Viktor E. Frankl. If anyone can question the meaning of life, it’s Frankl. He writes from the perspective of a man who survived the horrors of Nazi concentration camps.

I’m only halfway through the book, but I’ve found his insights captivating. He’s not writing from some airy-fairy perspective. He addresses things based on questions he and other raised while being starved, beaten, forced to work in winter weather wearing nothing more than rags. It was an existence that destroyed individuality and any belief or hope in a future.

From his experiences Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, developed logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy. The last half of the book is dedicated to an examination of logotherapy. I’m looking forward to reading that part, but I’ve already been impressed.

Frankl addresses how some prisoners gave up on life while others were able to find meaning in the struggle to survive. What follows is a brief quote from the book that really speaks to the meaning of life.

“Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks, which it constantly sets for each individual.

“These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way. Questions about the meaning of life can never be answered by sweeping statements. ‘Life’ does not mean something vague, but something very real and concrete, just as life’s tasks are also very real and concrete. They form man’s destiny, which is different and unique for each individual. No man and no destiny can be compared with any other man or any other destiny.”

When we think we have it tough, Frankl brings the reality of true challenge to light.

See you next time.

Photo: Viktor E. Frankl - 1905-1997

2010: Begin Again – Careful, Big Brother may be watching

Are you OK with your employer using technology to monitor you at work? According to an interview I heard on CBC Radio earlier today, 75 per cent of Canadian companies and organizations may be keeping track of workers and their productivity via their computers. This can take the form of keystroke counting to ensure data-entry efficiency to monitoring Internet access to see what you may be checking out. Big Brother may, indeed, be watching. How do you feel about that?

The CBC Radio show was Spark and I think it was Nora Young conducting the interview, but I didn’t catch the name of the fellow being interviewed. I believe he was from a university’s school of business. Discussion centred on the use of technology to keep an eye on employees to see if productivity is being maintained. Aside from the keystroke counting and monitoring Internet activity, other current and developing trends really start to seem a little creepy.

Security ID cards can track when employees enter or leave the building, or sections in the building. Some companies are introducing cards that will allow them to track employees constantly, knowing exactly where they are at any given time while on the job. Better not spend too much time on a bathroom break!

Part of my 2010: Begin Again project is to work at developing a good side income. My job at the college is a 10-month term position, meaning I’m off work from mid-June to mid-August. Having extra money flowing in will be most beneficial. Having an extra income that could actually replace that from a job could be a blessing if one was to work for an organization that snooped into your life a bit too much!

Thankfully, I’m not in such a position myself. How about you? Who’s watching over your shoulder?

A Year to Live – Experiencing Life By Preparing for Death
Today marked the first session in the ‘A Year to Live’ program I am taking with a friend. This is based on the book A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last, by Stephen Levine. We’re meeting once a month with a wonderful woman, Pat, who is guiding us through the program.

Death is not something people are comfortable discussing or considering. I suppose taking time for such a program may seem morbid to some, but when you realize the actual intent is to ensure participants are really living the life they want, it actually becomes quite exciting.

We spent time simply talking about the concept and why we were there. Pat used a guided meditation to begin the process of imagining a doctor had just told us we only have a year to live. What that felt like and what our reactions would be provided fodder for conversation. We also did some solo brainstorming looking at what we would like to accomplish if we truly only had a year left.

What’s interesting is that none of us really know how much time is left for us in this physical realm. The individual with a known terminal illness could outlive us should we have an unfortunate run-in with a bus. And not of the kind I referenced yesterday!

As Levine states in the book; “It can be hard to die when we have forgotten so often that we are alive . . . How often has our life passed unnoticed? How soon will we accept this opportunity to be fully alive before we die?”

Interestingly enough, to me anyway, you may care less; I’m also currently reading You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor. He addresses the same issue about living before we die; “Remember, you do not have a contract to live forever, nor is this a practice run – this is your life and you should be enjoying it to the fullest extent humanly possible.”

My deepest wish is that you are, in fact, living life exactly how you want to. If you aren’t, bless yourself by taking some time to reflect on what’s really important to you, then start to take the steps to make that happen.

Namaste.