— To follow is a bullet of wisdom on leadership. It comes from Tom’s rifle, named Shot, who has seen it all. You’ll get the drift by clicking Blog in the menu at www.tomnewhouse.com. —
“STAY AWAY FROM THOSE BOYS!” Why? “Cuz they’re not good for you.” That’s Mother talking to Tommy. I could hear her from my rack in the gun closet. She was smart: Some dudes are trouble. I have seen them, and some have even handled me. As a rifle, I do what I’m told, and they told me to do some terrible things.
Leaders, when it comes to building trust, start with character. If you lack high character, you don’t deserve to be trusted! Without character no tips for building trust will work. None. You have to have high integrity and honesty as a foundation. If you need to build these, then: identify a role model for character and start modeling; list what goodness looks like and measure yourself daily against the list; identify the core values that will mark your life; track your commitments—even to yourself—and make sure you keep them; be open to others and their ideas; and, very importantly, be consistent. Oh, you’ll falter from time to time, but keep building the foundation. It will become you—a person of character.