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Joel Peterson
with David A. Kaplan
THE
LAWS
10
OF
TRUST
Building the Bonds That Make
a Business Great
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to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not
engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or
other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should
be sought.
Names: Peterson, Joel C., author.
Title: The 10 laws of trust : building the bonds that make a business great
/ by Joel Peterson with David A. Kaplan.
Other titles: Ten laws of trust
Description: New York : American Management Association, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050000 (print) | LCCN 2016000845 (ebook) | ISBN
9780814437452 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780814437469 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Leadership. | Industrial management—Moral and ethical
aspects. | Trust. | Business ethics.
Classification: LCC HD57.7 .P48 2016 (print) | LCC HD57.7 (ebook) | DDC
658.4/095—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015050000
© 2016 Joel C. Peterson with David A. Kaplan
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To Diana, my trusted partner of 44 years
“A man who trusts nobody is apt to be
a man nobody trusts.”
—Harold Macmillan
“To be trusted is a greater compliment than
to be loved.”
—George MacDonald
• CONTENTS •
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
The Power of Trust 5
Law 1:
Start with Personal Integrity 19
Law 2:
Invest in Respect 27
Law 3:
Empower Others 35
Law 4:
Measure What You Want to Achieve 47
Law 5:
Create a Common Dream 53
Law 6:
Keep Everyone Informed 65
Law 7:
Embrace Respectful Conflict 75
Law 8:
Show Humility 83
Law 9:
Strive for Win-Win Negotiations 91
Law 10:
Proceed with Care 97
Restoring Trust 103
Acknowledgments 119
Index 123
Free Sample Chapter from Leading at the Edge by
Dennis N. T. Perkins 129
About Amacom 138
• FOREWORD •
Stephen Covey
By
I
’ll never forget the day I met Joel Peterson. It was in
November 1985. I had recently been hired by Trammell
Crow Company, which at the time was the largest real estate
development company in the United States. Joel was serving
as its Chief Financial Officer and its de facto strategist.
As a young professional working in my first “real” job, meet-
ing the man who was considered the number two person in the
firm was obviously a big deal to me. Yet what I remember most
to this day was the extraordinary reputation Joel had with
seemingly everyone in the firm. At a relatively young age, he
was already a legend, and everyone talked about not only his
brilliance, but also his integrity—and in equal parts. After
meeting and spending time with him, I was similarly im-
pressed by both his character and competence, commenting to
my wife, “Everybody trusts Joel. He’s who I want to be like in
business.”
• ix •
foreword
It was a great thrill to me years later to have the chance to
be personally mentored by Joel when he served as Vice
Chairman of Covey Leadership Center, the firm founded by
my father, the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey. I was serving as the
company’s CEO, and under Joel’s guidance I learned many
things that significantly influenced my leadership, including
the judgment that flows from a broad perspective he called “all
things considered,” the preeminent importance of focusing on
creating value for clients, and the power of simplicity. Through
my association with Joel, I also experienced firsthand the im-
pact of credibility and trust. Partly as a result of his influence,
I focused intentionally on building a high-trust culture within
our organization and with all our stakeholders. That focus
became a game-changer for us. Our performance dramatically
improved—and we had a lot more fun along the way!
Having since devoted my life and work around what I feel
called to do—to help leaders and organizations create and
leverage trust—I was humbled and honored when Joel invited
me to write the foreword for this superb book, The 10 Laws of
Trust.
Before you begin to read this book, I would like to extend a
personal invitation to you. I invite you to consider a particu-
larly challenging business situation or relationship you’re cur-
rently facing. Assume you have a good grasp of your current
circumstances and how you arrived there—but the way for-
ward isn’t clear.
• x •
foreword
Now imagine that you will have personal access to unparal-
leled insight and advice from a business leader, investor, and
teacher who has worked firsthand with over 2,300 businesses,
hundreds of partners and thousands of leaders over a 40-year
career, and who has also taught thousands of future leaders at
Stanford. Further, imagine that this insight and advice will be
given to you in a way that is both extremely engaging and
highly practical.
That’s exactly what’s available to you in The 10 Laws of
Trust. In this remarkable book, you can gain profound insight,
wisdom, skill and courage to move forward in a situation or
relationship you’re currently facing—as well as in any other
challenging situation or, for that matter, any exciting opportu-
nity in life.
Let me share why I can say this so confidently. For over 25
years I have been focused on helping people understand and
implement the power of trust so that they can access the in-
creased speed, lower cost, higher energy, and fundamental joys
that come from trusting and being trusted. In the process, I
have learned three fundamental truths about trust.
1. Trust is an economic driver.
As I analyzed my re-
search and experience to write my own book, The Speed
of Trust, it became unarguably clear to me that trust is not
merely a soft, “nice to have” social virtue; it’s also an economic
driver, always affecting both the speed at which we can move
• xi •
