On Trust

Business success begins with trust.

Trust is the basis for all that we do as leaders and as organizations. Employees who trust their employers are more productive and creative. Businesses that earn their customers’ trust maintain better relationships and reap better results. Meanwhile, breaches of trust between companies and the public are becoming more frequent—and more costly.

If you read nothing else on trust, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you build, maintain, and repair trust, both as a leader and as a company.

This book will inspire you to:

Develop trust through competence, legitimacy, and impact

Understand the neuroscience of trust

Follow through on your commitments to stakeholders

Negotiate better with an untrustworthy counterpart

See your company through the eyes of your customers

Rebuild relationships after a breakdown of trust

This collection of articles includes “Begin with Trust,” by Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss; “The Neuroscience of Trust,” by Paul J. Zak; “Dig, Bridge, Collectively Act,” by Tina Opie and Beth A. Livingston; “Rethinking Trust,” by Roderick M. Kramer; “How to Negotiate with a Liar,” by Leslie K. John; “The Enemies of Trust,” by Robert M. Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau; “Don’t Let Cynicism Undermine Your Workplace,” by Jamil Zaki; “The Trust Crisis,” by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta; “Customer Data: Designing for Transparency and Trust,” by Timothy Morey, Theodore “Theo” Forbath, and Allison Schoop; “Operational Transparency,” by Ryan W. Buell; and “The Organizational Apology,” by Maurice E. Schweitzer, Alison Wood Brooks, and Adam D. Galinsky.