Authority Cannot Produce Trust

Executive Field Note 005

Authority can require compliance.

It cannot produce trust.

Trust appears when people repeatedly discover that reality is safer than pretending.

Organizations often attempt to increase trust through communication.

The deeper question is whether the organization has created conditions in which people can safely recognize what is already true.

Trust follows recognition.

Not instruction.

What truth does your organization quietly discourage people from recognizing?

Published by Executive Insights. A publication of Axiom Research Press