Trust Rules: How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in Work and Life

by Linda K. Stroh

Whom can you trust? It's not an easy question to answer, yet it couldn't be more important to try. Hook up with the wrong crowd, and there goes a career―or worse. As scholar Linda Stroh argues, trust is a prerequisite for effective management, and it contributes directly to personal success. To find out how to tell the good guys from the bad guys, Stroh interviewed over three hundred businesspeople. The result is a thorough and invaluable compendium of lively stories, lessons learned in the trenches, and practical tools and principles. Readers will learn how to identify the trustworthy at work and in their personal lives―giving their careers a boost and helping them sleep better at night. That's because having trustworthy people around us makes organizational life much easier and less stressful. Yet, since ancient times, people have pondered the issue of trust. How do we decide who to let into our inner circle? To what degree do trusting relationships impact our performance at work? What are the consequences of misplaced trust? Must trust be unconditional? Taking these questions out of the realm of the philosophers, Linda Stroh draws from her extensive research to highlight common themes and the hard-won lessons learned from experience. She then distills their thoughts and experiences into practical tools and techniques for assessing trustworthiness―including your own―and applying these tools in a variety of situations. Integrating insights from management and psychology, Stroh shows readers how to pay attention to red flags in relationships and ultimately develop a network of trustworthy people that will help them succeed in business and beyond. Combining rigorous primary research with practical application, and using engaging stories and insights throughout, this book will help general readers, professors and students, and professionals alike attain their goals more quickly and with greater satisfaction.

Genres: Business

165 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2007

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading this book I viewed trust as a simplistic term. You either trust someone or not and its virtually instinctual. However, I was honored enough to take a class with Professor Stroh in which I read this book. I learned that our human instincts are flawed. Trust wasn't such a straightforward idea but instead a complicated matter. Trust in our personal lives and workplace should be consciously examined regularly in order to live a happy and successful life. This book is a wonderful tool in order to assess the trustworthiness of the people in which we surround ourselves with (which is harder to identify then perceived). Most of all, this book taught me that I wasn't as trustworthy as I always assumed. Since reading the book I have tried to better myself in order to be there for the people around me. I highly recommend reading this book for it is a powerful instrument that everyone can utilize.

[Robert Bogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trust is fundamental. It’s essential. It weaves together not just trust but also trustworthiness and, unfortunately, betrayal. Trust is a bet that the benefits of the trust are going to be more than the cost of betrayal. It’s based on the belief of the other person’s trustworthiness. Like horse race handicappers, we’re constantly looking at other people and judging the degree to which we should trust someone else. It would be a big benefit if we could learn what factors might lead to people being more trustworthy and what things might lead to betrayal. With that information, we can make better decisions about who to trust, to what degree, and when. That’s the root of Trust Rules: How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in Work and Life. It’s a guide to knowing when to trust.

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[Amanda Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved reading and learning from this book. For one, I felt as if this book was a very practical guide to learning how to understand trust in both a professional setting and a personal setting. I felt that the structure of the book was very easy to follow and flowed well. I also felt it was written in a educational and informative manner, but mixed with personal experiences and stories that made the ideas and concepts more easy to relate to. I also loved the way in which Stroh includes activities in which the reader themselves can evaluate and test their own trust of others and of themselves. Overall, this book was engaging, informative, and fun to read. I learned very much from the content and felt I came away from the book with a new perspective of trust in my own life. I recommend this book highly!

[BJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of two books that I have ever bought after hearing the author do an interview. Typically I am a fiction junkie but this book really spoke to me as I have often been considered gulible. I also gave it to my 20-something daughter to read because the principles outlined in this book work for personal as well as professional situations.

The stories are short and to the point, easily understandable and the principles are easily transferred to anyone's personal situations. This would be a great gift to any young person entering the business world.

[Leanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with concrete examples of how to establish trust in your workplace and life. Dr. Stroh makes examining our personal/business relationships accessible and eye-opening. During and after reading Trust Rules, I was able to pay attention and look for imbalances in my relationships with others and think critically about who I let into my life. Thank you Dr. Stroh!

[Rexanna Ipock-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned what to look for in people so that I can assess if they are trustworthy or not. I read this book in one evening. However, I am still using the information today.