Covey warns against two extremes: blind trust (gullibility) and suspicion (paranoia). He advocates for "Smart Trust"—the willingness to extend trust conditionally, but with clear expectations and accountability. Start by extending a small amount of trust to a team member you have been micromanaging.
When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up. This is the . Think of a corporate merger where teams don't trust leadership. Decisions bottleneck, lawyers are over-hired, and integration takes years instead of months. The Speed Of Trust Stephen M R Covey Pdf
As the new CEO, he inherited a company where every decision felt like wading through chest-deep mud. Legal teams spent days arguing over single sentences. Department heads CC’d the entire executive board on every email to "protect" themselves. This was the Stephen M. R. Covey wrote about, and it was draining the company’s bank account and morale. The Breaking Point Covey warns against two extremes: blind trust (gullibility)
List your top three business frustrations: slow meetings, excessive approvals, high turnover, rework. For each, ask: Is this the result of low trust? Most likely, the answer is yes. Stop blaming processes; start addressing behavior. When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up
Low trust causes friction. It leads to redundant checks, bureaucracy, and endless politics, slowing everything down and increasing costs.
While this blog post gives you the highlights, The Speed of Trust is a "read and re-read" book. The official version offers: