HBR: Rethinking Trust by Roderick M. Kramer (2009)
Here is a summary of the key points from the article “Rethinking Trust” by Roderick M. Kramer:
– Trust is important for relationships, business, and society, but people often trust too readily and get betrayed (e.g. Enron, Madoff). This raises the question – do we trust too much?
– Humans are biologically predisposed to trust due to large brains, physical immaturity at birth, and need for social connections. Trust has evolutionary advantages.
– However, human judgment in trusting is often poor due to cognitive biases like confirmation bias, stereotyping, inflated self-confidence, and transitive trust.
– Two illusions also cause people to underestimate risks and be overly optimistic when trusting. Simple cues like appearance can be faked.
– To trust more prudently, Kramer suggests 7 rules: know your trusting tendencies, start small, write an escape clause, send strong signals, recognize others’ dilemma in trusting you, consider roles not just individuals, and remain vigilant in questioning.
– Trust is fundamental but tempering it is important. More research on trust judgments is needed but following rules like these can help trust wisely.
Tags: trust (37)
Posts where this resource is displayed
- What Are Beliefs? Ideas that are held to be true but not necessarily supported by any evidence
- The Knowledge Delusion We know far less than we think we do
- Knowledge Is Communal Most of our knowledge resides in other people
- Trust & Belief Formation Trust plays a critical role in forming our beliefs
- Discrediting People ** Cause them to lose the respect or trust of others
- Pollution of the Global Information Ecosystem The contamination of information with false and misleading material
- Filter Bubbles, Epistemic Bubbles and Echo Chambers Distort the reality of the world
- What Is Communityship? Where everyone in a community practices leadership
- Gossip and Lashon Hara Conversation about other people
- Converse in Good Faith Be sincere, fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome
- Organizational Conversation ** The conversation is the organization
- Exploring the Multifaceted Roles of Trust in Relationships and Society Without trust our civilization would collapse