|
|
xsBusiness - The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
|
List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $8.55
Your Save: $ 6.45 ( 43% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Free Press
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 174.4
EAN: 9781416549000
ISBN: 1416549005
Label: Free Press
Manufacturer: Free Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2008-02-05
Publisher: Free Press
Studio: Free Press
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Speed of Trust
Comment: This is an excellent book. It is not just for the business reader, but is applicable to everyone. The thoughts presented reflect on all human relationships.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing How Much More You Can Get Done if People Trust You
Comment: It's good to see an important and well-promoted book on business ethics coming out of a major New York house (in this case, Simon & Schuster's Free Press imprint).
Coveys basic thesis, peppered with lots of examples from his own and his famous father's life and career as well as the business world in general, is that when people trust you, business gets transacted a lot faster, more smoothly, and less expensively.
He notes that almost every action either increases trust--creating what he calls a 'trust dividend'--or decreases it, imposing a 'trust tax.'
Covey identifies a number of factors leading to increased trust, and they basically break down to two key principles embodied in '4 Cores': character (subdivided into Integrity and Intent), and competence (Capabilities and Results). It's not enough to offer just one of those two. If you are good at what you do but people have reason to mistrust your ethics, you pay a penalty. But also, you can be a model of integrity, and if you're not good at doing what you commit to do, you'll pay a trust penalty there as well.
Building from those four core attributes, he identifies 13 specific behaviors that build trust, and spends a chapter on each:
* Talk Straight
* Demonstrate Respect
* Create Transparency
* Right Wrongs
* Show Loyalty
* Deliver Results
* Get Better
* Confront Reality
* Clarify Expectations
* Practice Accountability
* Listen First
* Keep Commitments
* Extend Trust
When evaluating these behaviors, in yourself or in others, it's important to find the 'sweet spot' where distrust is overcome but judgment comes into play so you don't get burned. And in that process, it's important to recognize that each of these 13 behaviors has 'counterfeits' that look on the surface like they're building trust, even as they actually undermine it. As an example, flattery is one of several counterfeits to straight talk.
Like my own book Principled Profit, Covey repeatedly demonstrates that high-trust environments, based in both character and competence, wildly outperform the traditional hierarchical micromanaged corporate environment. Trust, in other words, is very good for business. It's why all the local McDonald's were left untouched during the Los Angeles riots--because McDonald's had shown itself as a concerned community partner, for years. It's why Johnson & Johnson is one of the only pharmaceutical companies that has a reputation for genuinely caring about its customers. It's why when an IBM executive who had lost the company $10 million expected to be asked for his resignation, founder Tom Watson Sr. responded, "You can't be serious. We've just spent $10 million educating you!"
My favorite chapter is toward the end of this substantial book: 'The Fifth Wave--Societal Trust: The Principle of Contribution.' Spiraling out from previous chapters about trust within an organization (built around the concept of alignment: the messages reinforce the desired behaviors) and within a market (where the key element is reputation), these are the third and fourth waves, the fifth wave is about 'conscious capitalism,' a/k/a social responsibility: the idea (and the statistics to back up the claim) that making a difference in the world is good for the soul, and also for the bottom line. And the key principle is contribution--doing things specifically to improve the lives of others.
This is one of the most important business books I've read in a long time, and a complete validation of the points of view I've been promoting for years. Strongly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great!
Comment: Very eye opening, simplistic & informative; this is something that should be implemented in the schools and to every man, women & child.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Opportunities missed
Comment: SPEED OF TRUST - I really wanted to like this book more, but ultimately couldn't. COVEY talks about business and personal life as if the principles of trust are interchangeable between the two, and to my liking doesn't pull it off. He makes no mention of the role feelings and intuition play, personally a substantial part in how much trust I place in relationships with people in my private life, and sometimes in business too. While COVEY talks about concepts like judgement, evidence, fact based measurement, results orientated - I'd hate to run my home based around key performance indicators and the profit margin!
Bounded rationality is a recognised phenomenon in business, many decisions, deals and trading is completed successfully using intuition as well, which is often required to complement the amount of information being presented before the opportunity passes. In many non-Western cultures, deals and enduring relationships are made on quite a different normative base than that used in the West. Many of the informal rules in those environments are much more subtle, symbolic, and invisible.
Another opportunity missed by COVEY is the application of Prisoner Dilemma game theory. The Prisoner Dilemma game, where two prisoners choose to either compete or cooperate to minimise negative utility is a well known and widely used concept that powerfully illustrates the divergent consequences of trust/distrust, betrayal, and potential for unconscious relationship punishment. Perception of threats to our survival needs, fear based & predator/prey behaviour play a major role in forming or destroying mutually beneficial relationships. Why COVEY did not refer to this, one can only speculate.
Overall I agree with some of the other reviewers - SPEED OF TRUST could've been shorter - a lot of repetition. The Action Plan and Credibility survey are interesting but don't stand on their own. Opportunities missed, and thankful I purchased SPEED OF TRUST using a 40% discount voucher, otherwise it's overpriced. And also - over recommended - the first 11 pages are endorsements - it's excessive, as if somehow the author doesn't trust in his own marketing ability - ironic that! Recommendation - if you can source it at your local library or borrow it from someone else who has it, save your cash.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Should be common sense but people still lie
Comment: My title is actually all I need to say, but will add this. All the money in the world cannot buy you a good name, which people trust. Most of the BS going on today in the finacial and mortgage sectors could not have happened if people understood trust.
I bought this in the audio book format because I wanted to understand trust. Not that I lie, but I wanted to understand all the damage that happens when people, especially in business, lie. Trust has to be earned, and, when broken, it take a long time to be earned.
The author takes you through many practical examples on how to build trust in our business and personal lives. I have a former colleague who is a pathological liar. I tried explaining to him how much easier life is when people trust you. It's also less expensive... no extra money or time wasted on rebuilding. But some people will always lie and/or other have the belief that business or individuals will lie to them. Perhaps if more of us read this, we can break that chain.
This book is rewarding, even though we should know about trust already. It also motivated me to look at other works in this area, specifically on ethics.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
From Stephen R. Covey's eldest son comes a revolutionary new path towards productivity and satisfaction. Trust, says Stephen M.R. Covey, is the very basis of the new global economy, and he shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients, employees and constituents—is the essential ingredient for any high–performance, successful organization. For business leaders and public figures in any arena, The Speed of Trust offers an unprecedented and eminently practical look at exactly how trust functions in our every transaction and relationship—from the most personal to the broadest, most indirect interaction—and how to establish trust immediately so that you and your organization can forego the time–killing, bureaucratic check–and–balance processes so often deployed in lieu of actual trust.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
