What Makes Leaders Trustworthy?

Trust is considered essential for leadership, but where does real trust come from? We often hear about acting with integrity, consistency and fairness, recognizing value and rewarding achievement. While these are all important qualities in a leader, there is something deeper than all of these. What is it that really makes us trust another human being? Authenticity.

True authenticity is the capacity to be truly present to life unfolding in the moment. This level of presence comes from understanding the true nature of thought. When you understand that thought is the only thing creating your experience, across the board, without exception, you learn when to trust your thinking, and when not to. It becomes obvious that when your feelings are off – when you’re stressed, overwhelmed or anxious – your thoughts aren’t as trustworthy as they are at other times. When your feelings are calm, present or inspired, on the other hand, you tend to have access to a higher order of thought – fresh thinking and insights.

Leaders who understand this have a deep trust in the workings of their own minds, They realize that there is an elegance to the system, and that it works perfectly every time. Leaders with this level of confidence in their capacity to lead from quality thought have a natural capacity to engender trust in others, because of the level of trust they have in themselves.