We Make Enough More

The mission of Abound is to build capacity within organizations and leaders who possess a demonstrated commitment to and focus on sustainability and social responsibility. Abound’s mission is to enhance the leadership level, quality, and effectiveness of our members to assist them in creating more collaborative and cohesive organizations, healthier cities and communities, and more resilient economies and ecosystems.

The Essential Elements of Trust

by zach on July 28, 2010

japanese kanji for trust, shin

One of the most important intangibles of building strong, sustainable businesses, communities and families is trust. Trust is a lot like love. It is core connective tissue supporting the quality and health of relationships. Strong families, vibrant communities, resilient organizations are all strong, vibrant and resilient because of the quality of their connections. In the kanji to the left trust is represented as the symbol for person + words/communication.

Traditionally, building up trust takes time–especially in high context, insular cultures. I remember a German sales executive lamenting his impending transfer back to Germany after 8 years in Japan. Although he was excited to return to his home country, he felt his hard work in building relationships was finally just beginning to pay off after nearly a decade! In many communities you are still considered an outsider until you and your family have been there for a couple of generations.

These days, most of us don’t have 8 years much less multiple generations to build relationships. So, what can we do to build trust as quickly and effectively as possible? Just as the kanji above shows, trust thrives on communication–authentic, transparent communication. And, trust is maintained and strengthened by not just what you say but what you do and how you do it. Simply, we have to walk the talk.

Authenticity
Authenticity springs from presence: self-awareness and contextual awareness. When you are self-aware it shows. Your posture, the quality of your eye contact, the energy you bring into the room all demonstrate you’ve done the hard work of getting to know your self. You know your role(s) and your strengths and weaknesses and you are secure in what you know. Contextual awareness begins with connection. It is the quality of your connection with the people in the room, your family, community and organization. From there, context expands to include the ecological, economic, political and cultural spheres of engagement. Being authentic means you are connected to and engaged with your self and the world around you. When you communicate, you communicate with the authority of these connections.

Transparency
Transparent communication basically means what you see and hear is what you get. You do as you say. Transparency is built on authenticity. People believe in you because of who you are. People understand where you’re coming from and where you want to go. There are little or no suspicions about hidden agendas, spin and your motivation for communicating.

Walking the Talk
It’s not just what you say, it’s what you do. And, it’s not just what you do, it’s the quality and the impact of your results that count. People will only believe in what you say if they see you do as you say. Seems simple, but it’s amazing how many of us disappoint here. People want to rely on you. They want want some level of consistency that they can depend on. Telling them is important. Showing them is more important. Telling and showing them consistently is absolutely essential to building trust. And, if you lack authenticity and transparency there is a very good chance you’ll lack consistency as well.

Trust takes time. However, through being authentic, transparent and walking the talk we create relationships that can grow trust quickly and sustainably. In many ways it’s old school. It’s not easy and it’s a life long practice. There are no short cuts and there is no try…


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Leadership in Uncertain Times

by zach 07.14.2010
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One of the most challenging aspects of leadership is navigating uncertain times. Change, either planned or unexpected, unmoors us. To quote Geddy Lee in “Tom Sawyer“, “…changes aren’t permanent, but change is.” Planned change changes. Unexpected change forces a response–change. The myths of linear, unfettered growth, superpower dominance and economic stability, and control have given [...]

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The Gulf Oil Spill, Walruses, and Accountability

by zach 06.16.2010
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I just finished reading this article on Bloomberg Business Week on the “carbon copy” disaster plans at nearly all of the major oil companies. The plans, all remarkably the same, make references to saving walruses in the Gulf of Mexico and some also reference a “Florida marine researcher who died in 2005.” What this speaks [...]

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The Abundance Affect: A Different Kind of Compliance

by zach 06.07.2010
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In a recent discussion with Jason Graham-Nye, the CEO of gDiapers we were looking at the ways he and his organization are having positive “ripple effects” in the world around them. Jason outlined two stories that demonstrate what we call the Abundance Affect, the creation of unintended yet undeniably positive value in unexpected places. Both [...]

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How Can We Make Enough More?

by zach 04.17.2010
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At Ryoanji, a well-known Buddhist temple in Kyoto there is a famous tsukubai, a place to purify yourself before praying (See the picture to the left). Its inscription is composed of five kanji that read ware tada taru shiru, which can be translated as: We only know enough and enough is all we know. Recently, Lynn [...]

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Are You Ready to Make the Shift?

by zach 04.03.2010
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There is a shift occuring. This shift is taking place in the awareness and thoughts, vision, actions and results being generated by a growing roster of individuals, communities, companies and collaboratives. Individually and collectively we are realizing some simple truths of our ineluctable interconnection: We are all agents of change. We can influence what and [...]

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Sustainability: The Leadership Challenge

by zach 03.06.2010
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In a recent conversation with students from the University of Oregon’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices I was asked why do leaders often have so much trouble integrating sustainability into their organizations. A big part of the problem is that they are trying to integrate sustainability into their organizations. First, most leaders don’t have a [...]

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Jonah Lehrer on the Neuroscience of Sustainability

by zach 02.03.2010
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Jonah Lehrer led off the Illahee Lecture Series last night with an engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking lecture. The first part of his talk touched on how the hard-wiring in our brains that has sustained us for thousands of years is, now, hindering our ability to deal with the complexities emerging before us. The latter half [...]

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Nike: Renewed Commitment to Sustainable Innovation

by zach 01.29.2010
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Nike continues to drive toward a transparent, collaborative approach to innovation and doing business. Kudos to The Natural Step for helping to facilitate this journey. Their progress is highlighted in the Nike’s Path post on the TNS website. You can also watch CEO Mark Parker’s video and read his letter to “everyone”, here. In Parker’s [...]

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Tim Brown on Designing for Abundance

by zach 01.10.2010

At a recent TED talk, Tim Brown called on designers to evolve their capacity beyond the creation of “things” to systems and creating lasting value. The full video is below. He calls this a shift to “design thinking.” It is a rediscovery of how, collectively, we can create positive value in the world. It is [...]

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