Trust and my dad

My dad has an interesting viewpoint on the idea of trust. He says that it doesn’t need to be earned with him rather, he gives it out freely and automatically with anyone that he meets. He says that it is implicit in the human make up. He says that trust should be an automatic ‘gift’ in the human operating system.

Occasionally his trust gets abused – that’s the price he is willing to pay for it does happen. The upside of all the trust given far outweighs the few exceptions.

In startups and business, we’ve tried to de-humanize trust and replace it with forms and legal agreements. I really believe that we should trust ourselves and our gut just a little more. But I’m excited that new technology is making us more human again. The fact that digital footprints are largely permanent may even circumvent the need for mistrust and formal agreements. We can instead go back to trusting peoples word and enjoy the speed that organic development gives us versus making lawyers wealthy.

twitter-follow-me13

 

 

5 thoughts on “Trust and my dad

  1. Sounds like a good bloke, your Dad.

    I remember once being asked about a particular person: ‘do you trust him’?
    – ‘as much as I need to’, was my reply.

    Trust is attributed in proportion to what is at stake in the particular interaction/relationship/transaction.

    e.g. Do you trust me enough to lend me a spade from your garden shed? What about the rare and priceless Faberge egg that adorns your mantlepiece?

    Trust becomes easier when you rely on instinct – the 6th sense you were born with that gives you clear information about the people you interact with and the situations you find yourself in.

    Instinct basically means trusting yourself.

  2. This is interesting because some companies actually exercise this. Thinking about Microsoft & Apple, when you are going to install Windows, you need to enter a long string of letters and numbers because they do not trust that you legitimately bought it. On the other hand, when installing OSX, there is no serial number required. This creates a good user experience and a more intimate relationship with the company.

  3. Yep, The example you site is a good one. But they also know that the software can only be used on their particular Apple hardware devices. The truth is that Corporations are generally not geared for trust. The basic concept of corporations is so that individual owners of said coronations cannot be held legally liable for wrong doing of the business. It could even be said that corporations were invented to circumvent trust and accountability.

    Steve.

Leave a Reply