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Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Trust: One of the Most Important CEO Traits

Gary Whitehair, over at High Performance Business, brings to the forefront the importance of Trust.

According to Gary, "as one of the more important character traits required of a CEO of a High Performance Business (HPB), trust can take many forms:"

  • Your suppliers need to trust you
  • Your investors, bankers, etc, need to trust your business plan
  • Your business partners and the companies that you do business with need to trust that you are a person of conviction
  • Your employees must trust you when you say that you will do something that you will actually do it

"Trust is a delicate thing. It builds slowly, overtime. However it can be shattered in a moment, so guard it carefully. The hallmark of a HPB is trust. Trust in the CEO and trust of each member of the team."

BOTTOMLINE: At Six Disciplines, our research shows that top-performing organizations, or what we refer to as "ready & able" organizations, have a high trust culture. People believe and respect the leadership and each other. The Six Disciplines Methodology (or ANY business improvement methodology) is not designed for organizations with radically broken cultures, where team members are suspicious of leaders. Key piece of evidence for a high trust culture? The ability of the organization to attract and retain high-quality people.

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