Trusting through the Textures and the Chapters

This week, we held our 3rd Annual LoCo ‘Next Level Summit’ at Sky Corral Ranch.  Business leaders from across our region joined together to connect and learn in a beautiful mountain setting, only 20 miles outside of Fort Collins, but it feels like 200!  We didn’t see any bears this year, but saw many deer, including a momma and two fawns just off the road, and more turkeys than ever, including a pair of hens with what must have been a dozen chicks between them!  

Our overall theme for the summit this year was trust - on brand with our culture at LoCo of “confronting the dragon.”  Drew Yancey opened his afternoon workshop by referencing the Edelman Trust Index from 2025, which shows that trust in America - and across the world - is at an all time low.  Trust in media, government, NGO’s, institutions of higher learning - and business - continues its decades long slide, with only business - some businesses - being seen as both competent and ethical.  

Why is this so? - and what can we do about it? - I dunno, but happy to explore together.

Subsequent to the Summit, but before sitting down to write this blog - yes, late start this month! - I leafed through the Edelman report - and frankly there were many elements that were terrifying, as an economist, armchair philosopher and historian, and as a believer in business and capitalism.  

Globally, 67% of respondents agreed with the statement “The wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes” and 65% agreed that “The wealthy’s selfishness causes many of our problems”.  The particular challenge here is - most wealth has been created by business!  Elon Musk is a great example - the wealthiest man on the planet!  

But - and - he’s created the first American car company in decades and helped push the entire industry toward electrification, he’s created a private space company that catches and reuses rockets that make the space shuttle program look like a child’s lego kit by comparison, he’s digging tunnels, and building AI systems and humanoid robots, and Tesla solar systems power hundreds of thousands of homes.  He’s created tens of thousands of jobs and made life easier for millions of people, and he bought Twitter to defend free speech! - he’s earned his wealth - and paid a ton of taxes!  

And then, he got into politics, briefly led the Department of Government Efficiency - and then the Big Beautiful Bill got passed and he was like - “oh, you’re not actually serious about not bankrupting the nation…bye.”  Turns out, government and efficiency are like oil and water, they don’t mix well. 

The very next page was even more alarming - “I approve of hostile activism to drive change” - to include - Attack people online, Intentionally spread disinformation, Threaten or commit violence, or Damage public or private property.  40% of respondents agreed!  Broken down by age, 26% agreed if they were over 55, 41% in the 35 - 54 age bracket, and 53% age 18 - 34.  Oof-da - that is a lot of simmering anger and mistrust!  

OK - to the first question - why is this so?  

Well, probably at least in part - because governments and media and NGO’s - and yes, businesses - have been proven not to be trustworthy so many times.  Particularly striking during COVID nation were the misinformation, malinformation, and disinformation patrols - most of which was itself propaganda - and this accelerated the decline of trust.  Boys can become girls, mostly peaceful riots, you won’t get sick if you take the jab, nor will you spread it to others, your President is as sharp as a tack…

The media is probably the most to blame and the most untrusted, although nobody watches it anymore because of it - they accelerated their own destruction. Culturally, Walter Cronkite was an anchor line for many people on what it was to be an American, and what was truly going on in the world, and Dan Rather after him. Now instead, the closest thing we’ve got is Joe Rogan, and news is found on social media, where everybody has an opinion, and you can share a link on the Internet to prove any point, on any side of any argument!  And if you can’t find that, you can have ChatGPT make something up and build a website to prove it!  

And so, the foundation for trust is not strong, and it has been eroding quickly.  Can we shore it up?  

Our Keynote speaker, Richard Fagerlin, has been coaching executives and their teams, and developing leadership development programs for over 20 years.  He’s a Top-100 Thought Leader on Trust - and he even wrote a book about it - Trustology.  His central premise is that trust is given - not earned - and it’s given most easily when people see leaders exhibit 3 characteristics - Integrity, Competence, and Compassion.

Let’s start with Integrity.  There’s two main definitions listed in the Oxford for integrity, and though we’re not not talking about the first, it’s really more about the second.  1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. And 2. the state of being whole and undivided.  Wholeness is what we’re looking for - especially when we think about businesses and larger organizations.  

“We help people get mortgages so they can buy the home of their dreams” might be something believed and pursued by the frontline workers, but the workers notice when the belief and pursuit of the C-Suite is “Maximize profits and offload risk to unwary investors” - and when there is no punishment for it.  They notice when a church leader preaches generosity from the pulpit but flies in a chartered jet.  

Next is Competence - which historically was all about knowledge and experience.  Today, however, knowledge is everywhere and we have to be selective of what we turn our focus toward - it’s more about knowledge acquisition and brokerage and systemization than attainment - plus continuous growth and development.  

Organizationally, this looks just like the Oxford - the ability to do something successfully or efficiently.  If you are a competent leader, and you hire competent people, and you deliver the goods and services to your clients and customers - you score competency points with your team - and they give you more of their trust - and hopefully you earn a good profit.  

Turning the lens to the government a bit, when your government has spent between $24 Billion and $37 Billion over 5 years “fighting homelessness” - but didn’t really track outcomes and has hundreds of six-figure Project Manager and above salaries to show for it - you might decrease your perception of competency - looking at you California.  Good luck with your Presidential run Gavin, what’s your plan for building trust?

Finally, compassion - validating the old expression - people don’t care how much you know, unless they know how much you care!  Here, Richard deviated from the Oxford a bit - where they define compassion as pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.  In business, compassion comes with candor - think more like truth in love, or candor and care.  

When I think about compassion, I can’t help but reflect on my recently departed #2, Alma Arellano.  Through our EOS implementation with Rick, Alma began to feel that she wasn’t suited to fill the Integrator role as designed, and that LoCo may better prosper with a more-experienced and marketing-driven staffer.  As we discussed further, I shared a tough truth with her - that I felt she was probably right. So, we designed a job description, I interviewed a bunch of candidates and she interviewed my top 4, and now we have Ben Holtz on the team; and did whatever I could to connect her to her next chapter.  Alma is prospering - already showing off her quick learning and applying her organizational skills - and setting herself apart in her new role.  We had high trust going into this season, which is what allowed truth in love to drive the conversation and decisions.  

I mentioned Drew Yancey earlier, and want to bring him back into the conversation.  

A couple of weeks after Ben joined the team, we were reviewing the chapters, and discussing our facilitators, and Ben observed that with two chapters of LoCo Next Level - both full - Drew was our revenue horse.  So much so, that if Drew were to mutiny, for example, that I could no longer afford to keep Ben.  He’s quick to understand like Alma, and so we spent some time on it.  

I shared our LoCo Facilitator contract with Ben, which is basically 30-day cancellable on both sides - and he didn’t find much comfort.  But then I told him stories of Drew’s arrival to the team, and his performance delivering excellent leadership to the chapter, and also in drawing new members from the community, and his mentorship of me and commitment to Northern Colorado - and that I trust him - and that basically to de-risk the situation, there is no solution but for LoCo Think Tank to grow - and that’s why he’s here!  

To his credit, Ben trusted me - or he wouldn’t be here at an 11-year old startup! - and he continues to put his shoulder into growing a community that we know is a force for good in our region.  When you’re in a room with a dozen others every month, your gaps in wholeness will show, your ability to acquire knowledge will grow, and your love for your people will show - sorry, couldn’t help it!  

Business is the greatest force for good in the world, and we can turn the tide of trust with a foundation of Integrity, Competence, and Compassion.  It won’t be fast, and it won’t be easy, but like everything - it starts at the grass roots with people like me and like you.

PS - The painting at the top of the blog is a commissioned work by Amelia Furman that I gifted to Drew for 5 years of service to LoCo at the Next Level Summit.  It’s a textured landscape, with a view from Sky Corral Ranch overlaying a collage of Drew’s favorite activities and places and driving motivations - many learned with help from Drew’s wife.  Amelia was awesome to work with, so check out her website and drop a note if you’ve got a special relationship you want to honor.