David Horsager is a business strategist and author known for his book "The Trust Edge". He argues that trust is the foundation for success in both personal and professional relationships. Horsager identifies eight pillars of trust: clarity, compassion, character, competency, commitment, connection, contribution, and consistency. He asserts that leaders who demonstrate strength in these areas through their actions, words and behaviors will develop trust with others and gain a competitive advantage.

1. David Horsager
Some Impressionistic takes from the book
The Trust Edge
by Ramki
ramaddster@gmail.com

2. About David Horsager
David Horsager is a business strategist, keynote speaker and author
of the #2 Wall Street Journal bestselling book The Trust Edge: How
Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a
Stronger Bottom Line. Through his book and programs he shares the
secrets of using trust to impact the bottom line. Combining humour,
illustrations, and memorable stories with research and insight, Dave
sheds light on the confusion and misconceptions surrounding the
cornerstone of personal and professional success.
Through his Master’s research, experience as Director of K-Life Inc.,
and founding partner of Special Delivery Productions, Dave learned
first hand how the world’s most successful people gain and keep the
trust of their customers and colleagues. He’s taken that knowledge
and broken it down into tangible steps that audiences and readers
can incorporate into their own lives right away.
As a Certified Speaking Professional, David has delivered life-changing presentations on four
continents, with audiences ranging from Fortune 500 executives to the armed forces and
professional sports teams. He’s built his reputation on two things – being easy to work with and
delivering engaging, high-energy speeches every time
.

3. "Trust flows from individuals, not organizations." That's the best summary I can provide of David
Horsager's book "The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships and a
Stronger Bottom Line.“
Let me give you a sample of his wisdom: "Trust defined: Trust is the confident belief in an entity:
 To do what is right.
 To deliver what is promised.
 To be the same every time, regardless of circumstances.“
I can't imagine a person staying in business very long without trust from every angle. Your customers
have to be able to trust you. Your employees must trust you. Your vendors must trust you. Even your
competitors must trust you. It's that simple. If any of those relationships breaks down, close your doors
and find another way to make a living.
Horsager says, "Without trust, the transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is
destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose teams. Without trust, organizations lose productivity,
relationships, reputation, talent retention, customer loyalty, creativity, morale, revenue and
results."
As he was studying top organizations and leaders, Horsager found that some had a clear advantage over
others.
"Those leaders or organizations that could weather storms, charge higher prices, maintain respect with
customers and clients, and foster long-term growth were special," Horsager writes. "The greatest leaders
and organizations of all time have had the same competitive edge. They were trusted.“
Happy Reading
Prelude

8. The Trust Edge
Horsager defines trust as
 To do what is right
 To deliver what is promised
 To be the same every time, whatever the circumstances
He goes on to make this statement:
“The trust edge is the competitive advantage gained when
others confidently believe in you.”
 Trust is very important in almost every aspect of our lives.
 You should never invest in a business without being able to
invest in the people behind it.
 Understanding the trust edge brings clarity

9. Trust is …..
A confident belief in a
• Person
• Product or
• Organization

11. With greater Trust
 Comes greater Innovation,
 Stronger brands,
 Increased retention of good and potential people
 Higher morale & Multiplied productivity, &
 Bigger bottom-line .
Trust –The Most Precious Resource

12. When People Trust a Company:
 91% chose to buy from them
 76% recommend them to a friend
 55% will pay a premium to use them
 42% share positive experiences online
 26% bought shares
Edelman 2009 Trust Barometer

16. Clarity
Three Key Areas of Clarity:
1. Vision and Purpose – If you want people to trust you, they need to
understand your purpose and your vision. If they don’t understand
where you are headed, how will they know if you get there?
2. Expectations and Communications – How are you communicating
your intentions? Have your expectations been made clear? These are
both critical if you are going to get the buy-in and engagement you
need to be trusted.
3. Daily Tasks – Do the things that you do every day align with your
mission statement? This one is pretty straight forward. Do your
actions match your thoughts? When they do, you increase trust.
People trust the clear and mistrust the ambiguous

18. Compassion
The Four Laws of Compassion
1. Listen – Do you ever find yourself answering a question before the other
person has even finished asking it? I have. The importance of actually
listening is huge. Let the other person finish their thought and you will
validate them and build trust.
2. Appreciate – I love the question Horager suggests … “How many of you feel
over appreciated?” People want to be appreciated. This validates them and
builds trust.
3. Wake Up – We are so concerned about the future that we forget about the
present. Wake Up and get the most out of NOW that you can. Today only
happens once.
4. Serve Others – When we help others and develop a reputation of being
unselfish, others will trust that we are looking out for them and are concerned
about what’s important to them.
People put faith in those who care beyond themselves

22. Character
Two Sides of Character
1. Integrity – Horsager asserts that “Integrity is being
consistent in thoughts, words and actions. Being consistent
builds trust.
2. High Morals – Consistently doing “the right” thing is a great
way to build trust. Regardless of the issue, people will know
that you will make a good decision.
People notice those who do what is right over what is easy

23.  In the late 1980s, Whole Foods Market company chairman and CEO
John Mackey set the pay ceiling for his executives at no more than
eight times the pay of an entry-level employee.
 This ceiling has been raised a few times since then, but Whole Foods
Company is one of the few international companies to have a pay
ceiling at all.
 Amid high growth, it would have been easy for Mackey to demand a
larger salary. Instead, he refused his stock option bonus, reduced his
own salary to $1 per year, donated all his stocks to charity and set up a
$100,000 emergency fund to be used by employees who were facing
financial problems.
 Mackey set an example for his organization. He’s trusted, top to
bottom, and has used that trust to spread a vision for greater impact in
a stronger company.
 As a result, Whole Foods has grown from one store to more than 200,
becoming the world’s largest organic retailer. You cannot argue with his
impressive level of integrity and resulting success.
 Mackey has the trust edge.
Whole foods , Whole Character

26. Competency
Three Ways to Gain Competency
1. Join a Mastermind Group – I believe this is one of the best ways to
build competency. A mentor of mine puts it this way “Hang out with
people that believe what you do but think different thoughts.”
2. Read – Every leader is a reader. Continually exposing your mind to
new information will build competency. People trust those with
knowledge.
3. Get a Mentor – There will always be someone who knows more
than you about any given subject. Many are willing to share their
insights and experiences with you and help you along the way.
People have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant, &
capable

28. Commitment
This is my favourite pillar
Before I even opened this book, I chose the word Commitment as
my one word to focus .
Over the years, we must have started many things and have to
honestly say that way too many were never finished.
We can point to all sorts of reasons why they didn’t get finished, but it
all can be summed up in this way. We were not committed.
When you take on a new project or responsibility, you better be sure
of your level of commitment.
The probability of success will be about the same.
People believe in those who stand through adversity

31. Connection
The first thing you better take care of when building
trust is connecting with the person you are trying to
build trust with.
John Maxwell covers this when he says “People
don’t care how much you know until they know
how much you care.”
Simply put, if you don’t connect with people so that
they know you care, they won’t care about what you
know and they won’t trust you.
People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends

34. Contribution
What are you giving back?
How do you contribute to your family, your business or
your community?
If you want to build trust with people, they need to know
that you value the things that are important to them.
This can be done in a number of ways … time, money
and resources to name a few.
Think about this – can you really enjoy the things you
have without having someone to share them with?
Giving back, no matter how you do it, will result in
building trust in those who are on the receiving end.
People immediately respond to results

36. Consistency
I think Horsager saved the best for last.
Look at the other seven pillars.
Can you be successful at any of them without doing
them consistently?
Consistency builds credibility and credibility builds
trust.
Follow-through on what you do and what you say
and others will know that they can trust your
motives, your words and your actions.
People love to see the little things done consistently

37. Is this Consistency ?

39. Based in research
but made practical
and engaging for
today’s leaders,
Dave Horsager
shows that trust is
a measurable
competency that
brings dramatic
results.
CLARITY
People trust the clear and mistrust the ambiguous.
COMPASSION
People put faith in those who care beyond themselves.
CHARACTER
People notice those who do what is right over what is easy.
COMPETENCY
People have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant, and capable.
COMMITMENT
People believe in those who stand through adversity.
CONNECTION
People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends.
CONTRIBUTION
People immediately respond to results.
CONSISTENCY
People love to see the little things done consistently.

40. Trust
 Trust , not money, is the currency of business & Life
 Trust is earned & it is the unique characteristics of
the most admired Leaders and Entrepreneurs
 People trust the clear & distrust the ambiguous
 We trust those who care & go beyond themselves-
Moms are the ultimate role models
 Anyone say “Trust me” is typically not trustworthy-
Trust is never spoken
 Model Character is simply being congruent with your
thoughts, words & actions

41. Trust
 The competency pillar starts with humility- admitting
what you don’t know.
 As trust in Leadership increases- so does Morale,
Retention, Loyalty & Profits.
 To rectify a mistake-start with a genuine apology &
make commitment you can keep.
 We trust courageous people, because it take
courage to build and gain the Trust Edge

42. Mail your comments to ramaddster@gmail.com
Ask yourself:
Am I the same every time?
Do I deliver the same quality ?
Act with the same consistency?
Speak with the same honesty all the time
regardless of the circumstances or the people around me?