Possible Reid riffs on fostering trust with founders, in boardrooms, and in AI
60 snips
Oct 15, 2025 
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and prominent investor, offers insightful perspectives on trust-building in business. He emphasizes that trust is a skill requiring transparency and direct conflict resolution. Reid shares his hands-on experiences with Airbnb and OpenAI, highlighting the importance of showing up during crises to earn trust. He discusses how founders should carefully select board members and foster public trust in AI through transparency and accountability, advocating for collaborative governance that upholds democratic values.
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Start With A Working Trust Assessment
- Assess how much trust the other party can realistically hold before trying to build deep trust.
- Choose investors, board members, or founders you can take a trust journey with to avoid dysfunctional relationships.
Make Interests Explicit To Build Trust
- Trust grows by being explicit about overlapping and conflicting interests instead of masking them.
- Steering into conflicts constructively either deepens the relationship or reveals incompatibility early.
Reference-Check Before Board Commitments
- Treat taking investment and giving board seats like a long-term commitment and conduct reference checks.
- Use references to proxy how a potential partner behaves under pressure before you commit.
