This week I spoke with a leader whose company has recently changed ownership. The executive team is completely new and many are wondering what to expect. As you can imagine, it’s quite a stressful time as everyone is working out who can trust whom.

Before we went into details about the people and the situation, I asked one question:

“On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s your propensity to trust?”

Our “propensity to trust” is our general tendency to trust—regardless of whom you’re trusting or what the circumstances are. It’s a dispositional quality, something you carry around with you wherever you go.

In broad strokes, you may be either a Trust Giver (Higher Propensity to Trust) or a Trust Earner (Lower Propensity to Trust). Of course, no one is all one and none of the other. These labels are just reference points to jumpstart the conversation.

Givers are comfortable taking risks, see the world as generally benign, and believe things usually work out well. Therefore, they begin relationships by giving trust quickly and liberally.

Earners are more cautious, see valid threats in the world, and seek to avoid bad outcomes. Therefore, they are slower to trust new people and require others to earn their trust first.

It’s important to note that neither Earners nor Givers are “better” than the other. Both have their pros and cons. Depending on the situation, either might be more prone to make a poor or wise trust decision.

For example, where nefarious agents are at work, Givers are more likely to get taken advantage of. However, in agreeable circumstances, Earners are more prone to miss out on opportunities.

Where does your propensity come from? Psychologists believe your propensity to trust is a complex mix of personality, culture, and experiences—i.e. deep stuff that isn’t going to change overnight.

Understanding—and owning—your own propensity to trust is critical to making solid trust decisions. Regardless of circumstances or other people, your propensity to trust affects how you trust from the very beginning.

For Reflection: What are the benefits and dangers of your personal propensity to trust?

Update: 80% Proposal Complete

With over 60,000 words written, I’m currently focusing on putting my book proposal together. I worked on the Synopsis and Sample Chapters this week to move the needle 5% toward completion.

9/10 Content (10%)

9/10 Market (10%)

4/5 Author (5%)

24/25 Synopsis (25%)

34/50 Sample Chapters (50%)

80/100 Total (100%)