For the people who know me professionally, it is no secret that I have grown a fascination for Trust. For example: What is it, can you measure it and how do you nurture it? Is there a difference between trust in people and trust in an organization? I still have a lot of questions left, but I believe to see a trend of harm being done to it.
“The biggest global issue is the continued erosion of trust.”
(Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman World Economic Forum)
Blockchain is for example being named as the automation of Trust. Where in my opinion it helps to govern agreements between parties in a transparent, cheaper and more efficient way. The trust that is needed to come to an agreement is still the responsibility of the parties involved.
Another example of the devaluation is degrading Trust merely to security. An example is the digital trust center that is setup as an initiative by the government to support small business to be more cyber secure. A good initiative but looking at its name, it should cover more topics. For example, ethics.
And third is the trend I see is to ask Legal to setup trust. But in the meantime, I’m observing more and more documents that have no meaning at all. People sign them without thinking. Examples are the Letter of Intent, the NDA and the processor agreement.
In my opinion, Trust is something we should foster and that will become more valuable then ever. Trust allows us to act faster on the long run and gives us a secure feeling. Look for example how you behave among friends. Agreeing on a holiday location, transferring money or ask them to baby sit can be something that is agreed upon within seconds, because you trust one another. Depending on the friend of course.
And in the digital world, where all transactions will be logged by data and transparency will become more and more the standard, keeping your promise is not an option but a must. And the promise you make should be crystal clear for a broad audience to understand, otherwise misunderstandings will take place.
So therefore, I want to get a better understanding on Trust. Can we put a value on it? How can we implement it in business to take time to build trust and break the trend of moving faster? I will continue this journey with the members of the Denktank Innovatie en Vertrouwen and anyone who is willing to support. You can join us on TrustReinvented.com.