Last week, I posted about the importance of Trust. This week, I decided to share a formula I stumbled upon years ago while attending a Leadership Summit event at Salesforce. As someone who loves maths, discovering that trust could be explained through the equation (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-Orientation was a genuine lightbulb moment.
This elegant formula developed by TrustedAdvisor Associates LLC combines
credibility—your expertise and ability to deliver on promises;
reliability—your consistent follow-through on commitments;
intimacy—the safety others feel in sharing vulnerabilities with you;
all divided by
self-orientation—your focus on personal interests versus others’ needs, aka, having an agenda.
This formula sparked a profound personal revelation. As someone naturally inclined to help and get things done, I often found myself diving into situations with the best intentions, only to receive feedback about overstepping boundaries and not staying in my swim lane. The trust equation helped me realise that despite my genuine desire to help, my high self-orientation—manifesting as an overwhelming need to solve issues and move on to the challenge—was undermining trust rather than building it. The best way to address this issue was to communicate my intentions clearly with the stakeholders and get buy-in. By running too fast, trust was eroding because people thought I had an agenda. And we all know that perception is reality.
Take a moment today to reflect on your interactions and consider which component of the formula you need to examine further to improve your trust levels. How would you rate yourself? This is not a competition but a way to become more conscious of your leadership.
The Trust Equation
