{"id":73237,"date":"2022-07-20T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=73237"},"modified":"2022-07-28T13:35:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T17:35:07","slug":"why-is-trust-important-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-is-trust-important-in-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Trust Important in Life? A CEO Explains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why is trust important in life? Why does society undervalue trust when measuring success<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former CEO Stephen Covey wrote The Speed of Trust<\/em> to bring awareness to the value of fostering trust in all relationships. Covey explains how earning more trust leads to career and personal success. According to Covey, the reason why trust is important in life comes from trust’s far-reaching impact on your success, and sometimes it’s not so easy to recognize the effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to find out why trust is important in life, according to Stephen Covey’s explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Why Trust Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In The Speed of Trust<\/em>, Stephen M.R. Covey explains why<\/em> trust is important in life, including in every personal and professional relationship, and lays out a roadmap for building and leveraging trust for success. His experience as the co-founder of the FranklinCovey Global Speed of Trust Practice and CoveyLink, and as the former CEO of The Stephen R. Covey Leadership<\/a> Center, lends a career-worth of credibility to his arguments. This Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal bestseller is accessible and actionable enough that readers can start building trust<\/a> in their own lives today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust is a critical yet undervalued prerequisite for success in the modern world. Covey believes the reason why trust is important in life is its ability to deepen relationships, create opportunities, and improve the efficiency of interpersonal interactions. In The Speed of Trust<\/em>, Stephen M.R. Covey argues that you\u2019ll be more successful in your personal and professional life when you make trust a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covey<\/a> is an expert on trust. He co-founded the FranklinCovey Global Speed of Trust Practice and CoveyLink<\/a>, which offers educational materials, training, and public speaking events to individuals and organizations looking to maximize their performance by building and leveraging trust. Before co-founding these businesses, Covey was the successful CEO of The Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center<\/a> at Utah State University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Speed of Trust<\/em> is a Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal best seller that has sold over two million copies in 22 languages since its initial publication in 2006. Covey is also the author of Smart Trust<\/em><\/a> (2012) <\/em>and Trust & Inspire<\/em><\/a> (2022). In The Speed of Trust<\/em>, Covey explores why trust is important in life through market research, testimonials from business and industry leaders, and insightful anecdotes from his personal and professional life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust and Value<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Covey says the reason why trust is important in life is because trust sets the tone of every interpersonal interaction. Therefore, it dictates how much your assets are worth in real-world situations, regardless of their worth \u201con paper.\u201d <\/strong>For example, say you are moving and need to sell your cherished family home. A prospective buyer offers to buy the house in cash for well over the asking price, with no inspections. She says she loves the home and will \u201ctake good care of it.\u201d On paper, this is a no-brainer. But you know that this buyer has a history of purchasing investment properties and tearing down existing homes to build expensive vacation rentals. Her lucrative offer on paper might be worthless to you because you don\u2019t trust her intentions for your home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust Gives Money Its Value<\/strong>

Trust doesn\u2019t just modify the value of our money in real-world interactions: It is the reason money has value in the first place. Society\u2019s collective trust in the value of money<\/a> is why we feel comfortable trading goods and services for an intangible currency that mainly exists as digital data. 

For example, a farmer feels comfortable selling her grain, which has inherent value because it can nourish her and her family, for a digital deposit into her checking account that has no inherent value outside our economic system. She feels comfortable because she expects that she will be able to trade that \u201cuseless\u201d digital data for other goods and services, like payments on her property. The only reason this system works is that we all buy into the idea that something with no inherent value is<\/em> valuable, and we trust<\/em> that we will be able to turn money into the things we need in the future. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leveraging Trust<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that we\u2019ve discussed why trust is important in life, we’ll cover the benefits you can expect from high-trust relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covey explains that the benefits of trust begin within you and radiate outwards<\/strong>. He calls this effect the \u201cwaves of trust.\u201d We’ll provide a brief explanation of his five waves of trust<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n