Trust Agents, 10th Edition

7Build an Army

You Can't Do It Alone

When we wrote Trust Agents in 2009, we both observed that individual people could now wield a level of power that wasn't available to them before. Their digital presence, their online voice, could create change by using the tools of social media and websites and more. We had no idea it would ever become such a world-changing experience.

Arab Spring started because digital tools like Twitter facilitated previously faceless voices protesting totalitarian regimes such that everyone could find one another and gather around common desires. The ALS ice bucket challenge came from people's desire to do good and share, and raised $115 million for the cause. Movements of social justice like #blacklivesmatter and #metoo came from the strength of these digital tools.

One person's voice can sometimes put the idea of change out into the universe, but mechanisms must exist to put things in motion. We realized early on that trust agents within companies and organizations work well because this new world fosters connection between a single person and those who feel similarly.

A Quick Note about the “Army” Analogy

The United States was considered one of the world's top military powers throughout the 1990s. Up to that point, having the best armed forces meant having huge battleships, aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, Bradley tanks, and other high-tech weapons.

At the turn of the century, the notion of what made an army effective was suddenly turned on ...