• Trust.

    Posted on January 6th, 2010 by and currently 3 commenting.

    I woke up yesterday thinking about trust — as it pertains to the way I look at the world, the way I lead Brains on Fire and the work we do for our clients.

    I spent a bit of time of in November and December reaching out to our clients and their customers just to listen and get some new perspective on igniting movements. (It’s one thing for us to say we help ignite movements, but what do our clients believe? What have they learned?) I even tossed in a handful of soon to be clients. Our “internal advocates” as we call them.

    A friend passed this article on to me. It’s old, but I think it’s worth sharing. Like Paige, I am one of those people that chooses to trust people until proven wrong. I’ve definitely been burned, but I believe it is just a simpler way to live your life.

    This is my favorite quote from the article:

    I refuse to micromanage fellow seasoned professionals and believe it’s impossible and unnecessary to oversee every piece of a successful business–you have to be able to let go and delegate so others can flourish, too.

    That core belief is so ingrained in my heart, the sentence almost spooked me as I read it this morning.

    How many business leaders really believe this statement?

    Hmmmm….

    So how does that connect to the rapid fire changes we are seeing in our industry?

    One of my recent conversations was with a PR professional who works for a large innovative global manufacturer. She has been working hard to shift the mindset of the company she loves. And it’s not an easy task. She and I have been talking for years now and I think she’s attended every single one of our FIRE sessions. So she’s been thinking and learning right along with us.

    She told me this when we spoke and keep in mind this is a very recent remark:

    “We have a whole department for brand management and image awareness. Their job is
    to police the way that people talk about us and to make sure that our icon is used the
    proper way. So to put something out there where people can, and will, comment
    completely free, and we don’t control it — that is definitely a scary thing for us.”

    She even went on to say, “We just did a media tour for the first time three years ago.”

    So there you go, it boils down to trust again.

    Okay. Okay. Don’t beat me up. I know in some ways that sounds overstated and passe as every company on the planet is addressing “being social” in some way or other. One of our larger clients even has a team of lawyers focused on the subject.

    But I still believe in some ways our simplistic point of view is a blessing. We just can’t understand living in a place of mistrust and so we preach on with passion. It’s about people. And people can’t live in a state of mistrust for too long. It’s not healthly.

    Do you trust your customers? Can you allow your fans to be fans?

    We are not a large company, so it’s easy for us to say yes.

    Can larger companies really ever burn the non-disclosure statements? And let trust take over.

    Hmmmm…..

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  • http://DeliverBliss.com Tim Sanchez

    “Like Paige, I am one of those people that chooses to trust people until proven wrong. I’ve definitely been burned, but I believe it is just a simpler way to live your life.”

    I have a feeling that’s where you’re different from most people, especially most managers. People start out trusting, but getting burned means there’s something wrong, something broken. This can be especially true if your boss (or boss’s boss) thinks it’s broken. They will proclaim that “It must be fixed!”

    Isn’t this what leads to the useless brand/image departments you mentioned; why mobile phone companies have early termination fees and why ToS agreements have gotten so out of control? Perhaps the old saying, “one bad apple ruins the bunch” has never been been so true. Except, replace “apple” with “customer who files lawsuit.”

  • http://brainsonfire.com Robbin

    Hi Tim, Yes. I agree. It is hard to get over being burned. And like I said, I have never been hit with a lawsuit that impacted our business. I’ve seen it for sure and I would never make light of it.

    That is what writing is about. Thinking. And I am just thinking out loud if there is some sort of compromise that works for everyone. I have hope in smart “people focused” lawyers.We actually have one we love who represents Brains on Fire. Most lawyers have black and white and ours can see the gray and still make recommendations. I love that.

    Maybe some of us should go to law schoo? Hmmmm….