Smart Trust - Stephen Covey, Greg Link

In this summary of the book "Smart Trust", Stephen Covey and Greg Link teaches how to trust and inspire people to trust, naturally. These lessons will make all the difference in transforming your relationships, your career or your endeavor.

Have you ever stopped to think about the positive results that trust can provide? To take advantage of these results, it is necessary to develop an intelligent way of exercising confidence.

Continue with us and we will explain you everything!

About the book "Smart Trust"

The book "Smart Trust", by Stephen Covey and Greg Link, was published in 2013.

The work features 300 pages that demonstrate how profitable and trusting people can be. Each chapter shows how individuals and businesses only gain when they develop the so-called Intelligent Trust.

This is one of Stephen Covey's best-known books, a must-read for people who want major transformations in life and business.

About the authors Stephen Covey and Greg Link

Stephen Covey was an American businessman, speaker and writer. A master of business from Harvard University, his business acumen led him to start two leading consulting firms. These companies are Covey Leadership Center and Franklin Covey. The author has published several books on business management. The most prominent are:

• "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People";
• "Most Important First: How to focus your priorities for highly effective results";
• "The 8th Habit".

US author Greg Link is a much sought-after consultant and speaker. He was co-founder of Covey Leadership Center and Franklin Covey. Link is a recognized authority in the areas of leadership, trust, sales and high performance marketing.

To whom is this book indicated?

The teachings in this book are a source of experience for entrepreneurs, managers, leaders, salespeople, freelancers, freelancers, and others who want to undertake and bring their personal and professional projects to life.

Main ideas of the book "Smart Trust"

• Smart Trust is an inexhaustible source of prosperity, energy and joy in personal relationships and business;
• Both blind trust and lack of trust are highly dangerous. The solution to these dangers is to develop Intelligent Confidence by balancing the natural propensity to trust with deep analysis;
• It is not enough to learn to trust others. Keep in mind that becoming a highly trusted person is part of the exercise of Intelligent Confidence;
• One way to inspire other people's trust is by trusting first. When people feel trustworthy, they naturally reciprocate in the same way;
• Stating your intentions transparently and doing what is stated is one of the most effective ways to build trust and credibility for a person or company;
• Those who have the courage to take the first step in the exercise of Intelligent Confidence open the way for a more prosperous, joyful and energetic life.

In this summary, we will show you the key lessons from Stephen Covey and Greg Link so that you, your work, or your business can thrive through Intelligent Confidence. Let's see now what they are?

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Overview: Why is trust profitable?

Stephen Covey and Greg Link mention that while people have difficulty trusting, trust is an inexhaustible source of benefits that encompass personal, business, and diplomatic relationships.

The fear of being vulnerable

The book "Smart Trust" begins by talking about the difficulty of trust that most people feel. For the authors, this is a result of the sense of vulnerability we feel when we place our hopes on someone else or even an organization.

This fear of vulnerability causes excellent opportunities to be missed in all areas of life. Moreover, the difficulty of trust removes the joy of building solid relationships in the professional and personal field.

The authors bring the example of economist Muhammad Yunus, popularly called the "banker of the poor," who won the Nobel Peace Prize. This banker overcame the fear of being vulnerable when he decided to make small loans to poor people.

Such persons had no guarantee whatsoever to be offered. However, because they received this vote of confidence, they repaid all loans and succeeded in their business. This exercise of trust by Yunus has lifted tens of millions of people out of misery.

Prosperity, energy and joy

Trust is capable of generating prosperity, energy and joy. When it comes to prosperity, just think that a company's financial results are closely linked to the confidence it inspires. The more customers trust a company, the higher the sales.

Energy is not just something physical or emotional. It involves creative ability, commitment and well-being. To understand this concept, take a moment to think about the stressful relationships in which trust is low. This same attrition affects businesses on an even larger scale.

On the other hand, high confidence teams generate more energy. For this reason, they are more productive and people are naturally happy to be part of that work team. Joy is synonymous with satisfaction. The more trust there is in a relationship, the more vivid it has.

Liveliness makes those involved feel excited and optimistic about the future, generating a highly positive cycle in their personal and work lives. As an example, the authors mention Denmark, the happiest country in the world. This European country is also the one with the highest level of confidence.

New postures

Because trust is an eternal principle, it will always yield the best results. Thus, when individuals, leaders, and organizations deviate from this principle, numerous problems occur. The lack of trust in today's world requires ordinary people, leaders and companies to take a trusting stance. In this scenario, business attitudes linked to social responsibility have been increasingly valued. This commitment to trust must consider three essential elements: people, planet and profit.

Overview: Blind Trust or Lack of Trust

In this part, Stephen Covey and Greg Link talk about blind trust and lack of trust, addressing the differences and dangers of each. As a solution, they present "Smart Trust".

The blind trust

Blind trust is based on ingenuity. Generally, it carries an exaggerated optimism about people, situations and organizations. Without requiring any effort or reflection, this kind of trust comes from our natural desire to trust and believe.

While it may seem noble at first to trust blindly, it can be costly. Blind trust increases the risk of scams, fraud, betrayal, cheating, etc.

Lack of confidence

Lack of trust is a very common situation. By using this "lens", people always see the world with the look of suspicion. This is even more common for people who have had traumatic experiences. For example, a marital betrayal or great cheating by a co-worker.

This excessive suspicion about everything and everyone causes people to miss constant opportunities.

The solution

The authors mention that smart trust is the solution to avoid the dangers of blind trust and lack of trust. They claim that Intelligent Confidence reveals a whole new world of possibilities. Thus, from this new "lens" you can have a life with more prosperity, energy and joy.

Overview: Smart Trust

In this part, the authors teach how to start practice using two essential factors. They also demonstrate the importance of becoming reliable people.

Propensity and analysis

People's big question when dealing with the question of trust is: how to trust with discernment? In response to this, the authors mention that it is possible to develop Intelligent Confidence based on two essential factors: propensity to trust and analysis.

The propensity to trust is related to the natural desire to believe in people. It is something connected with emotion. This propensity opens you to new possibilities.

Analysis is a more rational and objective factor. It consists of the ability to assess and consider risks. The authors teach that analysis involves three variables: opportunity, risk, and credibility.

Opportunity refers to the situation or what you trust someone. Risk is linked to the level of risk involved. Credibility is associated with the character and competence of the person involved. For the authors, balancing the propensity to trust with rational analysis is the beginning to learning to trust with discernment.

The other side of the coin

In addition to learning how to trust others intelligently, at this stage the authors talk about the need to be trustworthy. This posture is of utmost importance to make others feel more confident in trusting you.

Although you can choose whether to trust someone or not, in all situations you will need to be trustworthy. It is from their credibility that opportunities are created to achieve prosperity, energy and joy in personal life and business.

How to inspire confidence?

According to Covey and Link, achieving great results depends on the sum of two factors: ability to trust and ability to be trusted. When we trust people, they naturally tend to trust us. However, when we distrust others, they tend to reciprocate in the same way.

Lack of trust leads to a cycle of missed opportunities for both sides. The solution to this would be to inspire people's confidence by simply showing confidence in them.

Overview: 5 Intelligent Trust Actions

In this section of the book "Smart Trust", the authors outline the five actions needed to develop Intelligent Confidence and explain more details and how to use them in everyday life.

Believe and start with you

The first action of Intelligent Confidence is to develop a positive belief in the benefits that trust provides. This is the starting point for all other actions to be performed. By understanding trust as a good thing, you can bring about major transformations in all areas of life.

The second action is to begin this exercise of trust with you. That means being reliable to yourself. To strengthen this self-confidence, it is necessary to continually invest in its competence and credibility, essential factors for the success of people and companies.

Declare and do

The third action of smart trust is to state your intention. This means signaling your goals and intended actions in a transparent manner. An example of this is when companies express these intentions through an organization's purpose, mission, vision, and values.

The fourth action required to exercise Intelligent Confidence is simply to do. This corresponds to acting to accomplish the stated intention. One of the most effective ways to increase credibility is when you do exactly what you say. The sum of declaring and doing generates an extraordinary cycle of prosperity.

Be the first to trust

The fifth action is: Be the first to trust. By treating people with greatness, they will repay with greatness. Those who make the decision to exercise smart trust, first initiate a cycle of prosperity, energy, and joy. This arouses the same behavior in people, teams and companies - trust and credibility.

To think about the power that the gesture of confidence has, stop for a moment. Try to remember how you felt when someone gave you an opportunity, a vote of confidence.

Overview: You Can Do Even More

Here the authors Stephen Covey and Greg Link talk about the courage of those who trust and how this attitude is transformative.

Courage to transform

The transformation of people, teams, and companies begins as they nurture and share the benefits of smart trust. By stimulating this collaborative behavior, everyone wins. The authors also point out that with the help of technology it is possible to increase the power of action.

Whoever takes the first step in exercising Intelligent Confidence opens the way to prosperity, energy, and joy.

What do other authors say about it?

Deepening the law of the solid foundation, which defends the importance of gaining people's trust in order to influence them, the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People", author Dale Carnegie brings a series of teachings on how to stand out in relationships. personal.

Jeffrey Gitomer in "The Sales Bible" leaves his message: Be honest with customers. If you want to help them, the feeling will be reciprocal as this helps the process of building trust and even loyalty to your service.

In the book "The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople", Stephan Schiffman points out that one should not use tricks such as stating that the person has just won a draw. Successful salespeople inspire confidence, a good leader's brand has vision, deserves respect, is responsible, has a clear sense of direction and confidence.

Okay, but how can I apply this to my life?

Once you know the great lessons of this book, you can now apply these practical tips:

• Exercise smart trust toward your nearest people. This will increase your ability to rely on other occasions;
• Strengthen your belief that trusting with discernment can bring countless benefits to your personal and professional life.
• Try to remember how you felt each time you received a demonstration of trust from someone;
• Begin to look more closely at how increasing trust and credibility leads to better results for people and businesses.
• Seek a balance between the desire to trust and the realization of a rational and objective analysis;
• Strengthen your confidence and share the benefits of Smart Trust with others.

Did you like this summary of the book "Smart Trust"?

Now that you have read the summary, tell us: Which of these lessons are you going to apply to your daily life? Remember that for transformative results, you need to refer to this book at all times and be inspired by the lessons of these two great managers.

Therefore, our tip is that you get the complete work by clicking on the image below. This is how you will enjoy all the benefits of Intelligent Confidence.