621: Rachel Botsman - Being Comfortable with Uncertainty, Giving Trust Before It's Earned, Being on Time, Giving Great Keynotes, & How To Trust and Be Trusted
Rachel Botsman, a leading expert on trust and author of three bestselling books, dives deep into the dynamics of trust in today’s world. She emphasizes the importance of leading with trust, arguing it fosters a highly attractive team environment. Botsman discusses mastering public speaking by engaging the audience and overcoming nerves. She also highlights how consistency and punctuality build reliability in relationships. Lastly, she advocates for a holistic hiring approach that values character as much as competence.
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Traits of Trustworthy Leaders
Trustworthy leaders possess integrity, are clear about intentions, and consider their impact.
They are also highly capable, bridging the gap between charisma and actual skills.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Building Trust as a New Leader
New leaders can accelerate trust-building by demonstrating risk-taking and confidence in uncertainty.
Embrace humility, admit unknowns, and show a willingness to learn and look stupid.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Interview Question for Humility
Ask interview candidates for examples of when they've been beginners at something.
Assess their comfort with looking foolish and how they persevere through challenges.
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In 'Give and Take', Adam Grant examines the surprising forces that shape success, highlighting the differences between givers, matchers, and takers. Givers contribute to others without expecting anything in return, matchers aim to trade evenly, and takers strive to get as much as possible from others. Grant uses cutting-edge evidence and captivating stories to show how these styles impact success across various industries. The book emphasizes the benefits and challenges of adopting a giver mentality and provides practical advice on how to build successful relationships and achieve extraordinary results.
Atomic Habits
James Clear
Atomic Habits by James Clear provides a practical and scientifically-backed guide to forming good habits and breaking bad ones. The book introduces the Four Laws of Behavior Change: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. It also emphasizes the importance of small, incremental changes (atomic habits) that compound over time to produce significant results. Clear discusses techniques such as habit stacking, optimizing the environment to support desired habits, and focusing on continuous improvement rather than goal fixation. The book is filled with actionable strategies, real-life examples, and stories from various fields, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking to improve their habits and achieve personal growth[2][4][5].
This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader
Rachel Botsman has become an expert on trust in the modern world. She’s written three books: What’s Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust, and How to Trust and Be Trusted. Her TED talks have amassed over 5 million views. And she teaches at Oxford University’s Business School where she created pioneering courses on trust in the digital age has become an expert on trust in the modern world. She’s written three books: What’s Mine is Yours, Who Can You Trust, and How to Trust and Be Trusted. Her TED talks have amassed over 5 million views.
Notes:
Trust is being comfortable with uncertainty.
Capability and Character - Assholes are capable people with low character.
Demonstrate the ability to take risks. Confidence in the unknown. Healthy challenge and push mentality.
Trust willing – Lead with Trust. Make the trust wager. What’s the best way to earn someone’s trust? LEAD with trust. Trust them first. This also creates a highly attractive company or team. Don’t you want to attract highly trusting, capable people? The best way to do that is to lead with trust.
Be more trust willing. Lead with Trust. Jim Collins story. Make the trust wager. You don't have to earn it, you got it.
Willingness to be a beginner. Be curious. Look stupid at first. Those are good qualities in a leader.
For keynote speaking:
Share your expertise, but don't seek approval
Share your stories, but don't look for validation
Share your passion, but don't perform for the applause
Don't sell from the stage. Don't show your book. Don't give your resume.
Honor the present. If you’re running a meeting, start it on time. Honor the people who showed up on time. Leaders who are overscheduled… It’s usually their fault and it comes from ego. If you’ve hired a capable team, then you don’t have to be in every meeting. Also, if you’re always late, you aren’t reliable. And that becomes part of your reputation. That’s not something we want to be known for.
How can people trust you if you're always late? They won't. You aren't reliable if you're always late. Reliability is a big part of your reputation. It can become the thing you're known for. That's bad.
The power of consistency: Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress.
Consistency builds trust.
Leaders who are overscheduled have a problem they've created for themselves. It's usually from ego.
Interviewing leaders for jobs. High character is a must. We can teach capabilities later.
Paul Simon's audiobook with Pushkin is awesome.
Rachel's five principles for trust:
Competence: Having the skills, knowledge, time, and resources to do what you say you'll do
Reliability: Being dependable and consistent in your actions
Integrity: Being honest about your intentions and motives, and ensuring your words and actions align
Empathy: Caring about others' interests and how your actions affect them
Consistent action: Earning trust through how you show up, set expectations, and deliver acts of caring
Life/Career Advice:
Don’t get boxed in too early and grow a career based on being able to tell people at parties that you work at a prestigious company.
Look for great teams and great bosses. The industry doesn’t matter as much as the people. Culture is everything. People are everything.
And then when you’re younger it’s helpful to be a generalist. Know a little about a lot of things. But as you get older, it’s useful to become a specialist at something. Become an expert. Go deep on a topic. This is similar to what Mike Maples Jr said on episode #619.
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