Trust Rules

How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in Work and Life

Linda K. Stroh

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781440840647
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9798216157724
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Ethics
• Index: Business

Trust is at the root of all positive relationships. This accessible and empowering book teaches how to form an inner circle of trusted confidants in your workplace and at home that will allow you to live a more peaceful and more effective life, reduce stress, and better deal with negative emotions.

Building trust is crucial for effective leadership, and trusting others is a necessary part of working with others. But knowing whom to trust—and whom not to trust—eludes many people. A surprising number of people report that being betrayed by someone in their "inner circle" either at work or in their personal lives is one of the most devastating things they have endured. Lack of trust is also expensive in that it costs companies money to surveil employees; and in our personal lives, if we live with people we cannot trust, we expend needless amounts of energy protecting ourselves from these untrustworthy people. How do we increase trust, bounce back from betrayal, and form alliances and positive relationships with those who ARE trustworthy?

This book provides a unique examination of trust and its often-overlooked importance to our work and personal lives. It identifies the characteristics of a trusting relationship, considers the decision-making process that people should make before granting individuals admission to their own "inner circle," and teaches how to tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" in our work environments and life in general. This revised and updated edition contains new information on the negative mental and physical aspects of telling lies; how to better manage our emotions, which allows us to become "better guys" ourselves; strategies for building more trusting relationships in our families; and how trust works—and doesn't work—online in the Internet age. It also includes a useful "Family Board Meeting" tool for having family meetings in a way that encourages honest and open dialogue between family members regardless of age or family structure.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Faye J. Crosby, PhD
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: What’s Trust All About?
• Chapter 2: Telling the Good Guys from the Bad Guys at Work
• Chapter 3: Telling the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in Life
• Chapter 4: Comparing Work and Life Trust Rules
• Chapter 5: How Is It That We Fool Ourselves?
• Chapter 6: Where Do I Fit into All of This?
• Chapter 7: Telling the Truth about Telling the Truth
• Chapter 8: Trust, Emotions, and Striving to Reach Resourcefulness
• Chapter 9: Using the Trust Rules Toolkit
• Chapter 10: Those Conditional Trust Relationships
• Chapter 11: Building Trust in Our Families
• Chapter 12: Leadership and Trust
• Chapter 13: Trust in the Digital Age
• Chapter 14: Living and Working with Untrustworthy People
• Chapter 15: Shattered Trust: Why Do Those Bad Guys Do That Bad Stuff?
• Chapter 16: What about a Second Chance?
• Chapter 17: What Is Forgiveness?
• Chapter 18: Reconciliation
• Chapter 19: How to Cope
• Chapter 20: Looking Inward: Am I a Good Guy?
• Chapter 21: Can You Trust Yourself?
• Chapter 22: Final Thoughts about Trust in Our Lives
• Appendix: The Trust Rules Toolkit
• Bibliography
• Index
• A Note to the Reader
• About the Author