Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It: Why People Demand it

Engender Trust

The simple truth is that trusting other people encourages them to trust you, and distrusting others makes them more likely to distrust you.27 Dawn Lindblom, for example, had only recently been appointed executive director for the Red Cross in eastern Washington when Gail McGovern, the new president and CEO of the Red Cross, began touring the nation, introducing herself to the organization's leaders in a series of regional meetings. At the meeting Dawn attended, this question was put to Gail point-blank: “Can we trust you?” Gail's response: “I can't answer that for you, but let me say that I trust each and every one of you.” For Dawn, knowing that Gail was going first—that Gail would earn their trust by taking the first step and ...