After Virginia Tech, How Can We Trust?

Once again, fear has been incited by an act of terrorism – now what? How can we recover and extend trust again?  Who can we trust with our children, our friends, and our own lives? Again, our societal trust is compromised as headlines read:

• Witnesses Paint a Grizzly Picture
• Struggling to Find Order
• Asia Fears Backlash
• 32 Reasons to Question Freedom
• Legislative Remedies – Gun Bans
• How Safe are Local Campuses

In contrast, Wednesday, April 18, 2007, the USA Today Headlines read, “Gen Y shaped, not stopped, by tragedy.” In this compelling piece, Frank Harrison, student body president at the University of South Florida in Tampa, remarks about his generation’s experience of shared tragedy, “It shocked us into a sense of community. It’s not a sense of fear—‘Are we next?’ ‘Could it happen here?’ It’s more a sense of urgency that we have to stay together.” Stephen had this to say, “This generation has recovered from numerous national tragedies; the Oklahoma City Bombing, Columbine, September 11^th, the Space Shuttle disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and now Virginia Tech. They will recover from this one and inspire others with their example of resilience and trust in a free society ”

Stephen suggests: “Trust is an integral part of the very fabric of our society. We depend on it; we take it for granted – until it becomes polluted or destroyed. Then we come to the stark realization that trust may well be as vital to our own wellbeing as it is to society as a whole. Without trust, society closes down and will ultimately self-destruct. As Thomas Friedman contends in his bestselling book, The World is Flat, trust is essential to a flat or open society.  As he puts it: ‘Without trust, there is no open society, because there are not enough police to patrol every opening in an open society. Without trust, there can also be no flat world, because it is trust that allows us to take down walls, remove barriers, and eliminate friction at borders. Trust is essential for a flat world…’”

Lastly, he asks, “What if we fear that the simple act of getting out of our car at a gas station might put us in the scope of a deadly sniper, as was the case a few years ago in Washington DC?  The thought that trust cannot be restored is a common myth, but it is just that—a myth.  Trust can be restored.”

Stephen’s hot new book and keynote, The Speed of Trust, continues to inspire association audiences and fuel requests for his call for a global renaissance of trust.

 He is in demand worldwide with associations from all sectors including:

-American Dental Association 2007 National conference,

-The Institute of Internal Auditors National conference,

-The Information Technology and Internal Auditors National conference,

-The ASAE & The Center CEO Thought Leaders Conference,

-The Software and Information Industry Association National conference, and

-Several Healthcare Associations in the U.S. and Canada.

Many others are embracing his fresh and relevant message. Global demand is growing.  In March this year, he keynoted leadership conferences in Asia and Europe and is headlining conferences in London in June, India in July, and China in September.

 Why the significant demand by associations? Hugh K. Lee, President of Fusion productions and host with Disney Institute of the Digital NOW conference this month, had this to say when asked why he invited Covey to keynote his conference: “New global networks, new ways of doing business, and new ways of gaining knowledge have placed a premium value and penalty on the presence or lack of trust.   Nowhere in our society is it more critical to gain and maintain trust than in our associations. Every sector of our economy, every profession that we are employed in, and the vast majority of knowledge, research, standards, and guidelines that we live by are produced by associations today. That’s why we chose to have Steven M. R. Covey speak at DigitalNow; it is essential that we all understand the impact of trust and make it a priority. Mr. Covey’s research and knowledge are critical to achieving this goal.”

William Parrett, CEO of Deloite Touch Tomatsu, sure was prophetic when he called The Speed of Trust “red-hot relevant” last year. 

The SPEED of Trust is a paradigm-shifting topic that challenges our age-old assumptions that trust is merely a soft, social virtue and instead demonstrates that trust is a hard-edged economic driver—a learnable and measurable skill that makes organizations more profitable, people more promotable, and relationships more energizing.

The Speed of Trust was selected by Business Week as one of the 5 top career books for 2006 and is already in its 6^th printing in the US and is being translated into all major languages around the world.   

Lastly, Elliott Masie, CEO of The Learning CONSORTIUM, describes why he had Covey keynote his 2006 annual event:   “In a ‘flatter’ world, trust is the ‘secret sauce’ that significantly enhances learning, relationships, and results. Covey’s breakthrough insight that trust is a competency is both revolutionary and immediately practical.  CEOs and Chief Learning Officers will embrace The Speed of Trust as an authentic and actionable strategy–a roadmap–for increasing the effectiveness of their organizations and leaders.”