What IS Trust Actually? | Simon Sinek

We all know that trust is important, but what is it really? So I'll give you an example. It's sort of one of my favorite examples of what a trusting team looks like. So I. Bunch of years ago, I was in Vegas for a business trip, and they were very nice to put me up down the street at the Four Seasons. Beautiful hotel. The Four Seasons over here happens to have a coffee bar in the lobby. And so one afternoon, I went and bought myself a cup of coffee. And the barista working that day named Noah, he was charming and funny and engaging. And I stood there for far too long talking to Noah. And as is my nature, I asked Noah.

Do you like your job? Without skipping a beat, Noah said, I love my job. Now, in my line of work, that's significant. Like is rational, right? I like the people, I like the work. I get paid well. I like my job. Love is emotional. It's a higher order connection. Like, do you love your wife? I like her a lot, right?

It's different, right? And Noah said, I love my job. So for me, I was like, oh, that's a hierarchy connection. This kid's emotionally connected to his job. So immediately I followed up and said, can you tell me specifically what the Four Seasons is doing that you would even say to me, I love my job? And again, he didn't skip a beat. He said, yeah, throughout the day, managers will walk past me and ask me how I'm doing, ask me if there's anything that I need to do my job better. Not just my manager, any manager. And then he said, I also work at another hotel. He says, and there, the managers catch us when we're doing things wrong. He says, there, the managers put pressure on us simply to make our numbers and perform. There, I like to keep my head below the radar and just get through the day and collect my paycheck. Only at the Four Seasons, he said, do I feel there's that word again. Do I feel I can be myself. What I find so profound about that story is this is the exact same human being in two different companies, in two different leadership environments. And our experience of him will be profoundly different, not because of the person, but because of the place he works. Right? It's not the person very often. And so, you know, when we talk about, oh, you can't get good people these days, I'm like, you know, it's like the only common factor in all my failed relationships is, right? It's like if. If there's no good people ever that you can hire, I'm thinking there's one common factor in all those people who are leaving you, that might be you. And, and, and, and, and, and Noah's experiences. You know, we, we have these, we have this twisted.

Thoughts about how we get the most out of our people. Like, how am I going to get the most out of our mate? People are not a towel that you wring them out. How much you can get out of them. The question is, what kind of environment can I create in which my people can work at their natural best?