You’ve felt it. That agonizing crawl when a project stalls because nobody wants to sign off without three different legal reviews. Or that weird, prickly energy in a Zoom call where everyone is nodding but you know—you just know—they’re all texting each other on the side. That is the "trust tax" in action. It’s expensive.
Stephen M.R. Covey literally wrote the book on this, titled The Speed of Trust, and honestly, most people treat it like a soft, "nice to have" HR concept. They're wrong. Trust isn't some fluffy cloud-like feeling you get after a team-building retreat at a ropes course. It is a hard, measurable economic driver. When trust goes up, speed goes up and costs go down. It's that simple. If you don't believe me, think about airport security before 9/11 versus today. We lost trust, so now we have to take our shoes off and stand in a body scanner. High cost, low speed.
The Math Behind the Speed of Trust
In his framework, Covey lays out a formula that is basically the antithesis of traditional accounting: $S \times E = R$ (Strategy times Execution equals Results). But he adds a hidden variable. He argues that trust is the multiplier. If trust is high, it functions as a "trust dividend." If it’s low, it’s a "trust tax."
Think about a high-trust relationship you have. Maybe it’s a business partner or a long-time colleague. You can finish each other's sentences. You don't need a 50-page contract for a minor project because you know they’ve got your back. You move fast. Compare that to a low-trust environment where every email is drafted like a legal deposition and you blind-copy your boss on everything just for "cover." That's the tax. You're paying it in time, mental energy, and cold, hard cash.
There are five waves of trust, starting from the inside out. It begins with self-trust—your own credibility—and ripples out to relationships, organizations, markets, and eventually society. If you can’t trust yourself to keep a commitment to hit the gym at 6:00 AM, why would anyone else trust you with a million-dollar budget? It sounds harsh, but it's the foundation.
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The 13 Behaviors that Actually Matter
Covey identified 13 behaviors of high-trust leaders. They aren't revolutionary, but they are rare in practice. Things like "Talk Straight" and "Demonstrate Respect" seem obvious. But then you look at "Righting Wrongs." Most people just apologize. High-trust people actually make restitution. They fix the mess.
- Talk Straight. Be honest. Call things what they are. Don't spin.
- Demonstrate Respect. This is about the little things. Valuing everyone, not just those who can do something for you.
- Create Transparency. Stop hiding the ball. If the numbers are bad, say they’re bad.
- Right Wrongs. Apologize quickly. Then fix the problem.
- Show Loyalty. Give credit to others. Speak about people as if they were present.
Then there is "Delivering Results." You can be the nicest person in the world, but if you don't hit your numbers, I'm not going to trust you with the next big project. Competence matters just as much as character. You wouldn't trust a "nice" surgeon who has a 40% success rate, right? Of course not. Trust is the intersection of character and competence.
Why We Get Trust Wrong in Business
We often think trust is something you build slowly over decades. While that's true for some deep relationships, the speed of trust suggests you can actually extend trust as a deliberate strategy to accelerate growth. Netflix is a prime example. They famously have a "no vacation policy" and a very loose expense policy. They trust their employees to act in the company’s best interest. Does it get abused? Occasionally. But the speed they gain by not having a 200-person bureaucracy monitoring every sandwich purchase far outweighs the cost of a few bad actors.
Warren Buffett is another classic example. When Berkshire Hathaway bought McLane Distribution from Walmart, it was a multi-billion dollar deal. Usually, that takes months of due diligence and millions in legal fees. Because there was high trust between the parties, the deal was basically done with a handshake and a short meeting. They saved months. They saved millions.
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The Crisis of the Low-Trust Culture
If you're sitting in a cubicle or a home office right now feeling burnt out, look at the trust levels around you. Micromanagement is the ultimate sign of low trust. It’s exhausting for the boss and soul-crushing for the employee. It creates a cycle where employees stop taking initiative because they know they’ll be corrected anyway, which "proves" to the boss that they need to be micromanaged.
Breaking this cycle requires someone to go first. You have to extend "Smart Trust." This isn't blind trust—that's just being naive. Smart Trust is a combo of a propensity to trust and high analysis. You look at the risks, you look at the person’s track record, and you make a conscious choice to trust them.
Practical Steps to Increase Your Speed
You can't just wake up tomorrow and "be more trustworthy." It's a practice.
- Audit your "Trust Taxes." Look at your current projects. Which ones are dragging? Is it because of a lack of skill, or because you don't trust the people involved? Identify the cost of that delay.
- The "Stop-Start-Continue" Method. Ask your team: "What am I doing that makes you trust me less? What should I start doing to build trust? What am I doing right that I should continue?" It takes guts to ask this.
- Declare Your Intent. We often judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior. Flip it. Tell people why you are doing what you are doing. Don't leave them guessing. If you're checking in on a project, say, "I'm checking in because I'm nervous about the deadline, not because I don't trust your work."
- Keep Commitments to Yourself. This is the "Self-Trust" wave. If you say you’re going to do something—even something small like drinking more water—and you don't do it, you're eroding your own foundation.
Trust is the oil in the engine. Without it, the friction eventually creates enough heat to melt the whole machine. With it, you move at a velocity that competitors simply can't match because they're too busy checking their mirrors and reading the fine print.
The next time you’re faced with a complex situation, don't just look at the strategy or the tech. Look at the trust. If it’s missing, fix that first. Everything else becomes easier once the tax is gone.