The Trust Factor: This one’s from Liza

Posted on March 4th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 6 commenting.

Today’s post is from Liza Jones, one of the founders of Full Circle PR. Liza and Kim Banks are part of Brains on Fire’s extended tribe. In fact they share space and a cafe with us at Brains on Fire’s World Wide Corporate Headquarters. See, I promised you some new voices…so here’s Liza:

Liza on the left & her partner Kim on the right. In the background;one of my favorite paintings at Brains on Fire. Don’t you love it?

Trust is a funny thing.  It’s sort of like your GPA in school.  It can take a long time to build it up, but one bad grade can drag you way down.

When Kim and I started Full Circle PR last year, lots of people advised us not to go into our business together as 50/50 partner.  We all probably know that many a business partnership has failed because two people couldn’t come to an agreement on a decision.

And yet, as we wrote up our operating agreement (or, our “prenuptial agreement,” as we like to call it), we couldn’t think of working together any other way.  We liken our relationship to a marriage, and we trust each other implicitly to contribute equal blood, sweat and tears (and laughter, too) into our business to help it grow and thrive.  (As a side note, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve written into our operating agreement if a disagreement should ever arise, we’re to each write our decision on a piece of paper and draw one out of a hat as the deciding factor.  We’re still waiting on an opportunity to “Take It To The Hat”).

Our clients trust us to take their message out to their audiences and speak on their behalf.  Our employees trust us to provide them with an energetic, inspiring place to work every day.  Our vendor partners trust us to work within our deadlines and within budget to create measurable results for our clients. 

Trust is a valuable thing.

We’re so fortunate to work within the same building at Brains on Fire.  When we were looking for office space last year, Robbin said to us, “I know you’re going to do amazing things, and I want to be here to watch you do it.”  That level of confidence and trust she has in our business is incredibly motivating and inspiring. 

We treat it like spun gold.

We work hard to keep the trust level high between everyone we work with – and for.  The public relations industry often gets a bad wrap for being perceived as untrustworthy or full of people who skew the truth for their own personal gain.  And while there are always some bad apples in every group, the reputable PR practitioners I know adhere to the PRSA’s Code of Ethics, as well as general good business ethics, to serve as valued partners for their clients.

Toyota is experiencing a moment of truth right now as the company recalls thousands of its vehicles due to faulty gas pedals.  The verdict is still out on whether or not people agree with how Toyota is handling this situation with its customers.  But many customer testimonials are now showing up with folks saying they still trust the company to produce quality cars.  Because of their forthcoming nature in communicating the recall process, as well working with dealers to facilitate as many recalled vehicles as possible, it appears as if most consumers are still going to trust themselves to drive their Toyotas (I actually own a Toyota). 

So as we carry out all our duties in our personal and professional lives – with our business partners, our spouses and even our favorite brands – we have begun to see the underlying factor of success is trust.

Trust is all around us, and we are grateful for this.  How has trust led you be more confident in your own life and business?  We’d love to hear from you.