Real Trust
I'd like to throw up some ideas for general discussion or even just for your personal introspection. Some thoughts on the basis of trust. Who do you trust, and why? What makes you trust someone?
Let's take professionals. Those people who have educated themselves beyond first or even higher degree level and have gone on to spend a number of years learning their craft. Doctors, dentists, architects, lawyers for instance. On average, about 7 years of education beyond high school. I imagine we have all at some time or another used the services of one or more of these professionals. Did they all inspire the same degree of trust? I think they probably did not. So, what was the difference that made the difference?
Forgetting the odd Outer Mongolian that sets up as a doctor in your town with forged documentation of his medical provenance (I have no idea if any Outer Mongolian has ever done this anywhere). Forgetting these newsworthy outliers, most if not all doctors you will ever encounter have had similar amounts of education pushed through them. But they do not all equally inspire the same feelings of trust. Some you hear about from others as being a bit 'iffy' or not as good as old Dr. Lau or whatever. But often, it'll be your own personal 'take' on the individual that decides whether you believe them to be good, or less good, or just plan bad - or even Outer Mongolian.
What is it in you that makes this decision? And why am I interested? And why might you be interested?
The fact is, you have an instinctual basis for selecting information that suits your purpose in analysing and evaluating each and every situation, event, probability and person which you encounter, or expect to encounter. It has been honed quite literally, since the dawn of our species and serves us well.
You don't even need to have met someone to form a valid opinion on them. Very few have met Bush or Blair or Gandhi or Hitler or Donald Trump, yet we feel we know sufficient about them to form a solid view on those people. And it's probably 'right'. And they would receive the appropriate degree of trust from us in whatever they said, or suggested, or suggested we do.
During my business career I hired large numbers of consultants from the big 5 consulting firms to handle specific areas of business. They all generally did a reasonable job. But one firm stood out as always doing an excellent job. (Mentioning no names, but they were nick-named 'Androids' - I suppose today they would be 'Accents', but it wouldn't be the same...). Were they more 'professional' than the others? No. Did they wear flashier suits than the others? No. Did they dazzle with weightier tomes of their business analyses than the others? No. They simply did a good, solid job, on time and within (sizeable!) budget and you knew you could trust them to do so. It was on a very personal basis. You just knew.
Now it could be said these people were good because the company only selected the best. The did. And it could be argued the company took the best and gave them a thoroughly good metaphorical kicking over in Chicago or wherever they took them, to shake out the few wrong 'uns and put them through their paces and fashion them all in the same image. Also true. And you could say it was the constant striving for excellence that they inculcated in their people that made the difference. All true. But the fact is, whatever the basis for selecting and shaping their people, when you got one, you instantly trusted them. I suspect a large part of the hiring and development process for this company was in recognising those people that they themselves could trust. And they probably do this as unconsciously as do we all.
What's my point?
Trust your instincts.
There are some people you just plain trust and there are others you just plain don't. We don't need to know the basis for our evaluations in this area because it is all completely instinctual. But you know it - clear as day.
Trust your instincts.
And remember, nothing in this thread is anything to do with trading.
