I am a big proponent of processes; I believe they make life easier, but sometimes a process fails you and the Universe intervenes. Lately, the Universe has been stepping in for these Friday thoughts of mine; mainly
because in this new normal my process needs to change. So now I find myself building trust with the Universe and not wanting to piss it off, because trust is fragile.
This week the word “trust” was a recurring theme in many things I saw and did. It appeared on my LinkedIn feed, in newsletters, in conversation and even in memes, and none of it had to do with the current events. The Universe was talking to me.
Many of you have heard me talk about the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). One of the numerous benefits of the organization is something called Forum. Forum is a group of individuals that essentially become your advisors, mentors and go-to people for almost everything where you may need help. But that level of trust and confidence does not happen overnight, it takes time and patience to build. Forum allows for openness with no judgement; the idea is to talk about whatever we want and know that what is said in that room stays in that room. Forums thrive when the members of the group are open and vulnerable and to be able to do that, we must have trust!
As leaders of J2, Sanjay and I constantly talk about relationships, ones with clients and vendors and associates. Trust plays a large part in building those relationships. We are honest about the services we provide; we say no when we can’t do a project and refer it out to folks we trust. We talk clients into smaller projects when it makes sense; we are authentic in our want for others to succeed.
Trust is the foundation for relationships. Our clients trust our expertise and our honesty because they know that we are looking out for their best interests, but that trust didn’t just happen, we earned it slowly over time. The same for my Forum group; it took time for me to consider them trustworthy enough to be vulnerable with them, but the relationship and trust grew because in turn they were vulnerable with me. Now, I consider them to be some of my closest confidants.
The process of building trust can be scary but rewarding in the long run. Do I find the Universe trustworthy enough to give me a well-received topic? I guess we’ll find out ?. But I know over time, trust will be built as the relationship grows.
Take the time to lean in to build the trust necessary to form great relationships; but remember that trust is also fragile. It takes a lot of time to build, yet only moments to destroy, but when it’s there so much more is accomplished.
Let me know what you gain from it.
“Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities of which they were previously unaware.” –David Armistead
Have a great weekend,
-Vijay