I have made some observations on the nature of trust, while working in blockchain and identity for the past few years. It turns out that how we relate to trust and who we decide to trust is quite complex despite being relatively automatic. Depending on the environment we approach trust differently. For example: In a reputation based environment we may use EigenTrust ie: do the people close to me trust X. Or in a familial relationship we may use love based models. Today I am focused on a different environment for trust: Professional Trust. Professional trust has been modeled in many ways, but I find that the most actionable approach is to focus on the 3 components that the individual has control over:

• Honesty: will someone chose to follow through on commitments • Competence: does someone have the skills and bandwidth to follow through on commitments • Communication: does someone truly understand the commitment that they have made?

Trustful relationships professionally are a biproduct of making commitments and keeping them. If relationships are long enough there is the time to build a track record of delivered commitments, however this represents only a tiny fraction of our relationships. For the rest we model our trust based on our interpretation of the three components above.

Does someone act with honesty? Are their words and actions consistent regardless of environment? Do they smile when they are upset? The word integrity means to have consistency in your actions and words. If inconsistency is present in others, then you will choose to trust them less when they commit to something even if they have no previous track record as the basis for that lack of trust. It is important to be self-aware, but never underestimate the value of being genuinely vulnerable with others.

Does someone over commit? Do they lack the skills needed to complete a task? No matter how honest my barista might be, I will not trust them to perform surgery without being convinced of their surgical training and competence first. The same goes for over commitment. This trait does not make someone dishonest, but it can make them untrustworthy. It is OK to drop tasks, but the drop must be communicated beforehand. This is such a simple and important rule that is critical to maintaining trustful relationships.

Communication is the final key to trust. It is not enough to follow through on commitments as you understand them, you must follow through on the commitments as others understand them. To do this, it is critical to overcommunicate expectations ahead of time. Things that help with this are to sketch solutions ahead of time, turn bullet points into examples, and take the time to describe the finished product before you dig in. Communication is hard and the message is the message received. The responsibility falls to the messenger to see that the message lands correctly.