For the past few years, words like "transparency" and advice regarding how to earn people's trust have been recited ad nauseum. Moreover, the messages have always been positioned as if these were groundbreaking concepts... Establish, maintain, and strengthen relationships by demonstrating to customers, coworkers, strategic partners, and employees that you actually respect them! Now there's a novel concept.
In 2008, Stephen M.R. Covey (son of Stephen R. Covey) authored "The Speed of Trust" and has toured the world as a keynote speaker explaining the benefits of being honest - the time and money that a company can save. In 2012, Don Peppers & Martha Rogers authored "Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage", explaining how positively customers react when a company, bank, or online service is completely honest with them when they least expect it.
There's a lot of meaning behind the old saying, "Always be honest, and you'll always be happy." I've lived my life by it and built my career upon it. It eliminates a lot of unnecessary work, reduces the chaos, and lowers the stress levels dramatically. Not to mention, when building a case or defending a position, no one can argue with the truth.
As happy as I am to see integrity gaining the reputation it deserves, especially through articles and blogs by leaders in their field (e.g. Seth Godin), it's still disappointing to think that it took this many years of poor customer service and the advent of social media sites (that ensure every bad experience gets a ton of attention) to turn enough heads. And it will still take even longer for many of those heads to take action.
There will come a day, though, when we'll look back and think of how silly it was that there were books, speakers, and even curricula for business workshops designed to teach what many of us learned in our formative years. Until then, those of us who are already on board will just have to continue enjoying the competitive advantage that the situation provides.
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