Leadership – It’s a Matter of Trust

Howard Lohner is an alumnus of Wexner Heritage Montreal 09.  Howard is married, has three children and runs an accounting practice in Montreal, Canada.  He can be reached at hlohner@hlohner.com.

“Worshipped is He Who spoke, and created the world … worshipped is He Who speaks and does; worshipped is He Who proclaims and accomplishes…”

–  extract from the Pesukei D’Zimrah portion of daily morning services.

How does this extract from a collection of high praises for God relate to leadership?  I believe that at the foundation of effective leadership are good relationships and that the cornerstone of good relationships is trust.  It is my contention that these words of praise provide a clear cut, two-step method for creating trust.

Step One: “Worshipped is He Who spoke, and created the world…“

Each time we speak we create a world of expectations.  Whether it be “We’ll do lunch” or “I’ll look into that” people take note of what we say. These expectations form an excellent opportunity to build trust.

Step Two: “worshipped is He Who speaks and does; worshipped is He Who proclaims and accomplishes…”

Once the expectation is set you need to follow through on what you said.  It’s that simple but we are all guilty of plenty of Step One followed by not enough Step Two.  Fact is, if it was common behaviour, it probably would not have made it into the Pesukei D’Zimrah to begin with.

The good news is that it does not take a huge commitment to start building your trust account.  Try it with something small and see how it works for you!