In my ongoing effort to remember what I have read, some notes on Stephen M.R. Covey’s book ‘The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything‘.

Not THAT Stephen Covey but the son who is continuing the family tradition of writing. To be honest, this Covey is a better writer than his dad and the Speed of Trust is a good read. The examples are relevant and his personal experiences applying the concepts makes the book very genuine.

There is a lot to the trust model: Trust Taxes and Dividends, Five Waves (starting with the self), 4 Cores of Credibility and 13 Behaviors, whew!

The good news is that the book can be distilled down to a few key messages:

The Critical Bits

1. Trust is Relevant, Tangible and Measurable; it saves money and reduces transaction time (Speed and Cost)
2. Trust is about Character and Competence, you need both to be trusted.
3. 4 Cores of Credibility are the foundation factors of Character (1. Integrity, 2. Intent) and Competence (3. Capabilities, 4. Results).
4. TASKS is a mnemonic to define individual capabilities: Talent, Attitude, Skills, Knowledge & Style).
5. Trust is found in five waves, your: self (the basis for the 4 Cores noted above), relationships, organization, market & society.
6. There are 13 behaviors which can be summarized into Character (be a stand up guy – honest, respectful, loyal, etc.), Competence (deliver results, lead and follow well) and a combination of the two (listen, keep commitments and generate trust).
7. Low-trust organization pay trust taxes in the form of: 1. Redundancy, 2. Bureaucracy, 3. Politics, 4. Disengagement, 5. Turnover, 6. Churn (employee, sales), 7. Fraud.
8. High-trust organizations receive dividends: 1. Value, 2. Growth, 3. Innovation & Collaboration, 4. Execution, 5. Loyalty.

A Little More Summary

If you don’t want to read the book but want more details, the following document courtesy of Soundview Executive Book Summaries provides the highlights of the book. A Google search will lead to results and other summaries.

A Trusty Model

Although I think there are too many moving parts in the model for it to be practical the underlying principles are sound. Trust saves money, generates income, supports efficient and effective people/family/organizations/ societies and quite frankly is always preferable to a non-trusting environment.

The 1 sentence summary: trust greases the wheels of organizations, families and societies; it is a function of Character and Competence ; trust is built up over a lifetime and can be lost in an instant.