The Four Factors of Trust

CHAPTER 2Wrestling with Trust

In this chapter:

• The trust deficit
• Trust challenges

There are so many things about trust that we find hard. That's coming from us—and we literally wrote a book on trust! For starters, trust has been on the decline for decades. In this chapter, we'll share some of the things that we have wrestled with when it comes to understanding trust, measuring it, and building it. By definition, trust is as human and messy as the very humans who earn it or lose it. Today there is a gaping chasm of societal trust, what we call a “trust deficit” (defined as when there is more distrust than trust between two or more people). Measuring and building trust to climb out of that chasm feels daunting.

The Trust Deficit

Americans’ trust in institutions has been declining for years. The survey firm Gallup found that confidence in all fourteen core institutions tracked has declined since it started studying the question in 1973. These include organized religion, organized labor, Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, big business, small business, public schools, the medical system, banks, and the criminal justice system.²⁸ A large majority of respondents believed this decline in confidence made it harder to solve societal problems.²⁹

As you're reading this, we'd be willing to bet that you can think of dozens of examples from your own life where you have lost trust with people and institutions (we certainly can). Let's take teachers as an example. For both ...