Trust isnât something you can demand. Itâs built slowly, through actions that match your words. Every time you follow through, you make a small deposit in someoneâs mental trust account. Over time, those deposits compound into confidence, and once youâve earned that, things start to move faster, easier, and with less friction.
Be reliable. The simplest way to build trust is to keep your promises. Show up when you say you will. Show up when people need you. Deliver when it matters. Many small acts done consistently beat sporadic heroic moves. That consistency becomes reputation, and reputation opens doors.
Show care and context. People trust those who think beyond themselves. Explain your reasoning, consider how your actions might affect others, and make sure people understand what to expect from you. This type of clarity builds confidence.
Be open. Admitting what you donât know, or when youâve made a mistake, doesnât weaken trust as you might think. Itâs quite the opposite. Doing so, shows honesty and invites collaboration. People respect truth more than perfection.
Prove it. I believe that talk is cheap. Show something working. Make your results reproducible and your process transparent. Reliability matters more than brilliance that canât be proven or repeated.
Trust gives you the benefit of the doubt. When people trust you, they donât assume the worst if something goes wrong, making it easier to take risks, move quickly, and create together. Without trust, every action needs double checking, every word needs proof, and progress slows down.
Trust scales. Teams, markets, and societies rely on trust. When trust is high, we can build on promises, and when itâs low, we fall back on control. Trust reduces the cost of coordination.
But trust is fragile. It takes time to build and an instant to lose. One bad choice can wipe out years of credibility.
Trust breaks when people canât count on you. When you miss deadlines, when you shift goals, or when you cut corners, it shows unreliability. That belief that âyouâll deliverâ slowly starts to fade.
It breaks when things feel hidden. Opaque work, or unverified claims make others nervous and force them to double-check everything. The more they have to verify, the less they trust you.
And it breaks when you violate expectations. Changing the rules after the fact, or pretending that nothing happened damages trust more than failure itself.
Keep your promises again, but this time with extra visibility. Break work into small, clear steps, make sure you deliver each one of them, and that someone can verify what you did.
Tell the truth early and often. Admit what went wrong and what youâll do differently next time. Donât hide. The moment you get defensive, trust slips further away.
Design for trust. Make it hard to hide mistakes and easy to catch problems early. The goal isnât to completely avoid failure, but to make it survivable.
Earn back the benefit of the doubt. Thatâs something you canât simply ask for it; you have to prove you deserve it. Over time, consistent honesty and delivery shrink the need for oversight.
Trusted people get more freedom and higher-stakes work because others know theyâll deliver. They help others succeed, which makes everyone want to work with them again.
In the end, the only real strategy to be trusted is to be reliable, honest, and clear, over and over again. Do that long enough, and trust becomes the default between you and everyone who matters.