In The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey argues that businesses and organizations can only move at the rate equal to their members’ trust in each other—and themselves.

I reckon, he’s correct!

I’ve had the misfortune of working in organizations that had low trust. Sometimes colleagues didn’t trust one another due to fierce competition and unbalanced incentives. Other times, there was low trust between managers and subordinates due to harsh micromanagement—or a lack of strong guidance.

In these environments, everyone watches their own back. And all that time looking backward means we had no time to look—and move—forward.

Therefore, any organization that desires to see its vision fulfilled has to work on its trust. This trust tends to flow from the top down rather than the bottom up, because of the natural balance of power between executives, managers, and employees.

This is especially true of...