Building Trust

Trust is an essential feature of not only interpersonal relationships, but of every human organization, from the corporation to the nation state. While much has been written on this topic, there has still been no sustained consideration of what trust actually is. This book attempts to fill that void. The authors portray trust as a series of social practices, not merely an attitude toward a person at a time or some sort of vague social "glue". Trust is an emotional skill, which requires "emotional intelligence" to learn. Using this model, they go on to analyze how trust is created, maintained, violated, and re-established in business and politics and also in our intimate relationships. They introduce and advocate the notion of "authentic trust", which is neither naive or blind but trust with eyes wide open. The book aims not only to understand trust but to give the reader the tools build and maintain trust in personal and business relationships and to restore trust where it has been lost or betrayed.