What Happened to Trust?

Warning: I'm going to talk about another crisis. Scrolling through Twitter this morning, I saw a recurring theme: a lack of trust. Think about it.

• You can't trust those scientists because you-know-who pays their salary.
• You can't trust the government, because it's full of corruption.
• You can't trust that political party because they are funded by that billionaire, and they just want to control everybody or help their buddies on Wall Street.
• You can't trust big corporations because they just want your money.
• You can't trust those high tech companies because they are mining all your personal information.
• You can't trust lawyers because, well, they are lawyers.
• You can't trust your doctor because he's peddling products by the big pharmaceutical companies.
• You can't trust the news media because they are pushing their own agenda, and you know what that means.
• You can't trust people different from yourself because they are up to no good.
• You can't trust religious leaders because they are after your money.
• You can't trust every news outlet because of all that "fake news."

So who can we trust? Patrick Lencioni says lack of trust is one of the "Five Dysfunctions of a Team." With no trust, every communication is suspect and loaded with incendiary content. But when trust is high, communication is almost effortless.

So, if we are going to recover trust, we have to be trustworthy. You go first.

But seriously, we need to be willing to take a step back from the toxic climate of public discourse, and listen to "those people." Even if they are nut-jobs, they may still have a point. Running people down and dismissing them does nothing to help us have a better society.

Let's have a conversation, folks.