The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence, 3rd Edition

Trust

We have a great chance of succeeding if everyone feels that they are in an environment that trusts them.

—Blake Nordstrom

Our very existence is based on trust, which is defined as the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” We trust that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, that our car will start, that the traffic lights will work, and that our morning latte will taste exactly like yesterday morning's latte. And that's just the first hour or two of our day.

Every meaningful personal and business relationship is based on trust. The only organizations that engender loyalty and achieve longevity are those that work to earn our trust literally every day. Businesses that violate that trust will be severely—if not fatally—harmed. A trustworthy company understands that reputation is everything. Without the trust of its stakeholders—including employees, shareholders, customers, and suppliers—it may as well as turn out the lights, lock the doors, and go home.

Trust is not a strategy. Trust is how and why we live our lives—both personally and professionally. An untrustworthy person doesn't wake up one morning and say, “I think I'll try trust.”

“Why do two people trust each other in the first place?” That's a question asked by Professor Paul J. Zak at Claremont Graduate University, in an article in Harvard Business Review, entitled ...