The Fundamentals of Building Trust In People and Enterprises

Photograph by Zdeněk Macháček

The Fundamentals of Building Trust

Trust is not a feeling.
Trust is not rapport.
Trust is not chemistry.

Trust is a competence — a way of being with others that produces reliability, dignity, and coordination in the real world.

Most people think trust is something that “just happens” if two people like each other. But in our work, in our families, and in our communities, trust is built — or destroyed — through conversations of commitment. Not conversations of opinion. Not conversations of storytelling. Conversations that move the world forward.

After almost twenty years of doing this work, here is the simplest way I can say it:

Trust is the memory we leave in others about how we honor our commitments.

And the tragedy is this:
Most people never see that trust is not about morality. It is not about good intentions. It is not about character.
It is about action, language, and mood.

Let me give you the foundational distinctions.

1. Trust Begins With Listening for Concerns

Fernando Flores taught me that human beings do not act on “information.”
We act on concerns — what matters to us.

People trust you when they feel you understand what they care about.

Not because you agree.
Not because you comply.
But because you listen for the real concerns behind their words — the deeper worries, the hopes, the fears, the interpretations that give shape to their world.

You cannot coordinate action with someone whose concerns remain invisible to you.

This is why most organizations collapse into friction and resignation: everyone is speaking, but almost nobody is listening for concerns. And without concern, no request, offer, promise, or commitment can land.

If you cannot listen, you cannot build trust.

2. Trust Is Built Through Conversations for Action

The development of trust start with a powerful clarity:
Organizations run on conversations for action, not information transfer.

These conversations have a simple sequence:

• A request or an offer

• A clear promise

• A performance

• A satisfaction assessment

Most people break trust at the first step — they never make clear requests or offers. Everything stays vague. Everything becomes implicit. Everything becomes “I thought you meant…”

But vagueness is the mother of distrust.

If your requests are unclear, your offers are weak, your promises are ambiguous, there is no ground for trust.

Trust is built when the loop is closed.

Not when you try your best.
Not when you meant well.
When you take care of the commitment until the other person declares themselves satisfied.

That is the forgotten art.

3. Trust Lives in Moods — Not Logic

A person’s mood is their invisible stance toward the future.

When someone is in a mood of resentment, every commitment you make feels like a threat.
When someone is in a mood of resignation, every possibility collapses before it even begins.
When someone is in a mood of ambition, they see pathways; they listen differently; they coordinate differently.

If you ignore moods, you will misinterpret every word spoken to you.

This is why in our work the first diagnostic question is never: “What happened?”

It is always: “What is the mood?”

Because the mood tells you what future the person already believes is possible — or not possible.

You cannot build trust in a collapsing mood.
You must shift the mood to clarity, to ambition, to resolution.

4. Trust Requires Making & Revealing Assessments

One of the most powerful Flores distinctions is:

An assessment is not the truth. It is a verdict that opens or closes possibilities.

People trust you when you make your assessments transparent:

• “Here is what I see.”

• “Here is how I interpret that.”

• “Here is my concern.”

• “Here is what would rebuild my trust.”

This transparency gives others something to respond to.
It invites shared meaning.
It creates a world of possibility instead of silent judgment.

Nothing destroys trust faster than unspoken assessments that leak out through tone, mood, or avoidance.

When you hide your assessments, you force others to guess who they are for you. That guessing is the birthplace of fear and distrust.

5. Trust Is Not Perfection — It Is Repair

In our tradition, trust is not built by never failing.

Trust is built by:

• noticing the breakdown,

• acknowledging it early,

• taking responsibility without defensiveness,

• and making the repair conversation faster than the collapse.

A relationship that cannot repair will not last.

A team that cannot repair will not perform.

A culture that cannot repair will not innovate.

We do not lose trust because people fail.
We lose trust because they hide, delay, minimize, and justify.

You want to build trust?
Become a master of repair.

6. Trust Is a Practice And A Way of Being

Trust is not a technique. It is not a hack. It is a practice.

A disciplined way of speaking.
A disciplined way of listening.
A disciplined way of taking care of what matters to others.

Trust is built one conversation at a time, one commitment at a time, one assessment at a time, one mood at a time.

You do not command trust.
You embody it.

A Closing Word

If you want to become powerful in life — in work, in leadership, in relationships — learn to build trust.

Not the naïve version. Not the sentimental version. Not the “good vibes” version. But the ontological version — the version grounded in action, care, and responsibility. The version you can count on when the stakes are real.

The version that moves people.
The version that builds futures.
The version that changes lives.

Because trust is not softness. Trust is strength.

Further Study

For a deeper philosophical and practical treatment of trust — particularly in business, leadership, and organizational life — I strongly recommend Building Trust: In Business, Politics, Relationships, and Life by Robert C. Solomon and Fernando Flores. It is one of the clearest works ever written on how trust is created, broken, and rebuilt in human affairs.

An Invitation

If this conversation speaks to you and you want to see how these principles can transform the performance of your team, your culture, or your enterprise, I invite you to sit with us.

Let us show you how to build and repair trust in a way that elevates coordination, strengthens relationships, and produces radical improvements in enterprise performance and price-performance.

You can speak with us here.