speeches on trust

Speech on Trust

Trust is like a strong rope that ties people together. It’s a feeling of safety and belief in someone’s honesty.

When trust is present, it’s easier to work together, share ideas, and build relationships. Without it, things can become difficult and confusing.

1-minute Speech on Trust

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today I want to talk about a magical word, ‘Trust’. Trust is like a seed. When you plant it, it grows into a big, beautiful tree. But, like a tree, trust needs care. It needs honesty, respect, and patience to grow.

Trust is like a bridge between hearts. When we trust someone, we believe in them. We believe that they will not hurt us or tell lies about us. We feel safe with them, like a bird in its nest. But, breaking trust is like breaking that bridge. It’s like pushing the bird out of its nest. It hurts.

Trust is also like a glass. Once it’s broken, it’s hard to fix. Even if we try to glue it back together, the cracks are still there. That’s why it’s so important to be careful with trust. We should not break it for small reasons. We should protect it like a precious treasure.

Lastly, trust is like a light in the darkness. When we trust, we have hope. We know that even if things are bad now, they can get better. Trust gives us the strength to keep going, to keep trying, to keep believing.

So, let’s all try to be trustworthy. Let’s be honest, respectful, and patient. Let’s build bridges, not break them. Let’s protect trust like a treasure, and let it light our way. Because trust is not just a word. It’s a power, a magic that can make our lives better. Thank you.

2-minute Speech on Trust

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good day to you all. Today, I would like to talk about a very simple but important word, ‘Trust’. Trust is like a little seed. When planted, it can grow into a big, strong tree. It’s a feeling that helps us believe in each other, in our friends, our teachers, our parents, and even in ourselves.

Trust is like a special bridge between people. Imagine you and your friend are on two different islands. How can you reach each other? You need a bridge, right? Trust is that bridge. When you trust your friend, you believe they will not hurt you, they will not lie to you, and they will always be there for you. That’s how trust connects us, like a strong, safe bridge.

But trust is not something that appears magically. It needs time, patience, and honesty. It’s like a sandcastle. Can you build a big, beautiful sandcastle in just one minute? No, right? You need time to carefully place each grain of sand. Similarly, trust is built step by step, action by action. When we keep our promises, tell the truth, and help each other, we are placing those grains of sand to build our castle of trust.

Trust is also very delicate, like a beautiful glass vase. What happens if you drop a glass vase? It breaks, right? And even if you try to fix it, it’s never quite the same. Trust is just like that. If we break someone’s trust by lying or hurting them, it’s very hard to fix. That’s why we should always be careful with trust, just like we would be with a precious glass vase.

And finally, trust is like a special light inside us. When we trust ourselves, we believe in our dreams, our abilities, and our strength. This trust lights our path, helps us to keep going, and makes us brave. It’s like a tiny superhero inside us, giving us the power to face any challenge.

Trust, my dear friends, is a seed, a bridge, a sandcastle, a glass vase, and a special light. It connects us, builds strong relationships, and gives us the courage to be ourselves. So, let’s promise to value this magical word, to build it with care, to protect it like a precious vase, and to let it light our way.

Remember, when trust is strong, we are strong. So, let’s be strong together. Let’s trust more, believe more, and shine more. Thank you.

Speech on True Sportsmanship
Speech on Summer Vacation
Speech on Summer Season

We also have speeches on more interesting topics that you may want to explore.

One Comment

who wrote this speech?

Talks about Trust

5 steps to fix any problem at work

The awesome potential of many metaverses

What Wikipedia teaches us about balancing truth and beliefs

7 tools for building a business people trust

How your brain responds to stories -- and why they're crucial for leaders

An aerialist on listening to your body's signals

Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right

The future of digital communication and privacy

Why winning doesn't always equal success

How to break bad management habits before they reach the next generation of leaders

Confessions of a recovering micromanager

What to trust in a "post-truth" world

The age-old sharing economies of Africa -- and why we should scale them

How to build (and rebuild) trust

A better way to talk about love

How the blockchain will radically transform the economy

Exclusive articles about trust, 7 ways to build greater trust in all of your partnerships, how to raise kids who will grow into secure, trustworthy adults, where in the world will you find the most advanced e-government estonia..

Atlas of the Heart
Dare to Lead
You Are Your Best Thing
The Gifts of Imperfection
Braving the Wilderness
Rising Strong
Daring Greatly
Explore all books
Unlocking Us
Podcast Inquiries
Dare to Lead Hub
The Gifts Hub
Daring Classrooms Hub
About Brené
Media Contact & Press Kit
Our Newsletter
Belonging Statement
Guides & Resources
In the News
Posters and Quote Cards
Resources by Language
The Daring Way

on The Anatomy of Trust

Listen to the episode.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest

On this episode of Unlocking Us

I wanted to share with you a talk that I did at UCLA’s Royce Hall for Oprah’s Super Soul sessions where I uncovered the fundamentals of trust. What is trust? The data says there are seven parts of trust, and we organize these into the acronym BRAVING. Breaking down the anatomy of trust into specific behaviors allows us to more clearly identify and address breaches of trust. I love the BRAVING checklist because it reminds me that trusting myself or other people is a vulnerable and courageous process.

About the guest

Follow Brené

Visit the website of Brené Brown
Follow Brené Brown on Facebook
Follow Brené Brown on Instagram
Follow Brené Brown on LinkedIn

Brené Brown

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She also holds the position of visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

Brené has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers and is the host of two award-winning podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead .

Brené’s books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and her titles include Atlas of the Heart , Dare to Lead, Braving the Wilderness, Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection. With Tarana Burke, she co-edited the bestselling anthology You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience.

Brené’s TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world, with over 60 million views. Brené is the first researcher to have a filmed lecture on Netflix, and in March 2022, she launched a new show on HBO Max that focuses on her latest book, Atlas of the Heart .

Brené spends most of her time working in organizations around the world, helping develop braver leaders and more courageous cultures.

She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie, and a weird Bichon named Lucy.

Follow the Super Soul podcast on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts

Brené Brown: Hi, everyone, I’m Brené Brown. And this is Unlocking Us .

BB: I’m sitting here with Barrett. How is it going?

Barrett Guillen: Hi.

BB: We played pickleball this morning.

BG: I know. I’m really down on my game this morning. [laughter]

BB: Why? We won the first one.

BG: I think I was really distracted and so I was just kind of like, I don’t like when I’m distracted, I want to be in the game.

BB: Yeah, you can’t be distracted and do well in pickleball.

BG: No. I thought I was going to get in around the pole and ATP and hit my leg instead. [laughter] And that’s how distracted I was.

BB: So around the post is, post whatever or pole, but around the post is like when someone hits it so wide you don’t have to hit it back over the net, you can actually go around the post and back in their court. And I thought it was very awesome that you tried that today.

BG: I hit my leg, there is nothing awesome about hitting my leg.

BB: She hit her leg with…

BG: I was like, “ATP, ATP. Ow ow.”

BB: She hit her leg with the paddle, right, because you have to do some fancy footwork to make that work, they make it look so easy, the pros do, but then what was really funny is she said… [laughter] You said, “I hurt my leg and I hurt my ego.” [laughter]

BB: A little bit of the Brown family competitiveness this morning.

BG: Speak for yourself.

BB: No. I speak for both of us.

BB: Alright, it’s been a full on fall, yes?

BB: So I went straight from writing Atlas of the Heart into preparing for HBO. Lots of podcasts. Let me tell you something they used to say, I heard this the first time I wrote a book, they’re like, “The work begins when you turn in the book,” and I’m like, “Oh, screw you.” I’m like, “That cannot be true because I’m… That does… ” And it’s actually kind of true. There’s a lot of weird stuff that happens after you turn a book in. So it’s been really busy and nuts, but I’ve also been playing… I have protected my pickleball time.

BG: Yeah, you have. You’ve done a good job. No joke.

BB: I had to make it almost non-negotiable, and I’m playing a lot of pickleball and I’m still grumpy and tired, so could you only imagine?

BG: [chuckle] No.

BB: Rude. And oh my God, now, it’s the holidays.

BG: Oh my God. How?

BB: I don’t know how it happened, but let me just tell you this, when is this podcast coming out? It’s coming out right around the corner, right?

BG: Yeah, this podcast is going to be coming out on Wednesday. [chuckle]

BB: What’s wrong with you?

BG: I’m like every one of these podcasts is Wednesday.

BB: We’re punch-drunk y’all.

BG: Run it by the calendar.

BB: It’s coming out Thursday, the 24th, right?

BG: It’s Wednesday, yes, November 24th.

BB: It’s coming on a Wednesday. It’s coming out…

BG: This is where we are y’all.

BB: Yeah, this is where we are. Yeah. It’s coming out on the 24th. And I don’t even know why that was relevant, but I thought there was going to be something important. Oh it’s going to be… If you’re in the U.S., it’s Thanksgiving week, it’s fall break for us. And let me just tell you this, hold your holiday cards. Right? I don’t want to get a holiday card from you in the next week. It’s over-achieving. It’s rude, it’s not thoughtful. Makes the rest of us feel like shit. Yeah, I’d like it a couple of days after Christmas, with at least one return to sender wrong address on it.

BG: With the Happy Holidays marked out, Happy New Year. [laughter] Or at least that’s how ours would be.

BB: Yeah, that’s it. That’s it. I am very grateful about this Thanksgiving week.

BG: Me too.

BB: I’m so grateful for… Well, I’m always… I’m really… Let me just start with you, because you’re sitting right here, this will be awkward, the Brown family.

BG: We’re even sharing a mic.

BB: We are sharing a mic. I just keep thinking we need to get closer to it like “A Star Is Born.” I’m in the… You have to come in like… Really…

BG: Not going there with you.

BB: Okay, whatever. I’m grateful for you.

BG: Me too, I’m grateful for you.

BB: You put up with a lot of craziness.

BG: It’s fun.

BB: Sometimes.

BG: Most of the time.

BB: It’s hard.

BG: Sometimes.

BB: Yeah, she’s really good at like when I start crying or I’m like, “I can’t do it, I’m really overwhelmed.” She’s really good at, “Okay. Well, we don’t have to do it, we can just not do it.” And I’m like, “Of course, we have to do it.” “You know what, no, they’re all choices, Brené.” That’s pretty good.

BG: Yeah, that’s true.

BB: It’s very helpful. So thank you.

BG: You’re welcome.

BB: For being my person all the time.

BB: I’m also just grateful to our broader team.

BG: Oh they’re so kick-ass.

BB: God they’re kick-ass aren’t they?

BB: Like what a miracle. I wake up every day and go, “How did this happen?” Like we just have a team of what, 30 people?

BB: And they’re just incredible, and it’s been hard, because we’re on a book, we call it a crash, when you turn in a book and the publisher turns it around really quick, we’ve been on a book crash, unpacking pallets and pallets and pallets of books. Literally, the UPS person…

BG: [chuckle] He was so grateful that he was on vacation this time during our book delivery.

BB: Yeah, because he’s just like, “I just can’t, I couldn’t handle it.” Because we get a lot of books here. So today’s the 24th if you’re listening to it on the day it came out. The book’s going to come out Atlas of the Heart , 11/30. And we’re not doing a traditional book tour this time because kind of COVID stuff, which I did do a small event last night, it was my first in-person event since March of 2020, and it was so fun.

BG: It was fun.

BB: I was in it to win it.

BG: Yeah, it was really good.

BB: So I can’t wait to see y’all. 2022, I’m coming to a city near you hopefully.

BG: I’m about to say amphitheater near you but I don’t even know where that came from.

BB: What is it?

BG: I don’t know.

BB: Okay, I’m coming to an amphitheater, that’s like a rock and roll tour or something.

BG: That’s what we need.

BB: Yeah. Me and some rock band from the ’80s, we’re coming to you. But I’m going to try to get out in 2022 for sure I miss seeing your faces. But no traditional book tour this year, we do have an event on December 2nd at 8:00 PM Eastern time. We are partnering with over 150 independent bookstores around the U.S. and Canada, I have to say that one of the things that’s been really hard for independent booksellers during COVID is that book tours are a big part of their revenue strategy, and so we’re doing our virtual book tour with them. You can go on brenebrown.com on the episode page and figure out how to get a ticket and guess who is, I love this, who’s interviewing me for this, and I’ll be in conversation with Priya Parker, who… She’s amazing.

BG: And just a reminder for the book event, you buy a ticket and you get a book.

BB: Yeah. And if you’ve already bought a book, that’s okay, because you can just get another book and then gift that book. See, you see how that works?

BG: That’s great.

BB: Yeah. That’s about a sales…

BG: Oh my God and it’s a beautiful book. So to give it away, I mean, even our team already has their books and they’re all like, “Oh my God, it’s a beautiful coffee table book, it’s just so beautiful.” You’ve never done a four-color book before.

BB: I haven’t and it was so fun, except it got a little dicey there, because they’d be like, “Yeah, we need four more chapters from you.” And I’m like “I’m choosing a palette for the quote cards in the book.” They’re like, “Tough shit. We need your chapters.” I got really into the aesthetic of it, but it is… It is a really beautiful…

BG: It’s beautiful.

BB: Yeah, and it’s incredible, and big shout out to everyone who worked on that, because that was a thing. So we are going to… For the podcast this week, we are going to share the anatomy of trust with you, we have been talking about trust a lot over on Dare to Lead , we interviewed Charles Feltman, who wrote The Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work . Do you know someone told me that it’s not primer, it primer?

BG: Oh really?

BB: Mm-hmm. I said bullshoit instead of bullshit, but… [laughter] I don’t know. I’ll just say The Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer Primer for Building Trust at Work . Barrett and I also did two episodes on trust in the workplace, and so I did a talk at UCLA at Royce Hall for Oprah’s Super Soul Sessions where I talked about the fundamentals of trust, and I really walked through BRAVING for the first time. So that’s what I’m sharing with y’all this Thanksgiving, and so I think it’s helpful because it’s not using the acronym BRAVING for trust isn’t just a work thing, it’s also… It’s just a life thing, right?

BG: Yeah, even in the event that you did last night, we touched on parenting, and even talking about BRAVING from a parenting perspective was so great last night.

BB: Yeah, it’s very helpful because it’s really hurtful when you’ve got trust issues with your kids and you just use that big gauzy term of trust. They don’t know what it means, we don’t even know what it means, but if you can get really granular and behavioral and operationalize the elements of trust and say, “This is where we’re struggling,” or “This is where I’m struggling.” Super helpful. So enjoy, if you’re celebrating a fall break or Thanksgiving this week, we’re grateful for you, and here’s The Anatomy of Trust.

BB: This is my intention right now, don’t cry before you start. Don’t cry before you start. It just feels like an incredible understatement to say how grateful I am to be here with all of you. I feel like I have a relationship with many of you on social media, and you were like T minus two days. I’m like, “It’s coming, we’re going to be together.” So I am so grateful to be here with you. I’m going to talk about trust, and I’m going to start by saying this. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to research topics that mean something to me. One of my least favorite parts of my job is I normally come up with findings that kick me in the butt and make me change my entire life, that’s the hard part. But I get to dig into the stuff that I think matters in my life and the life of the people around me. And the topic of trust is something I think I probably would have eventually started to look at closely because I study shame and vulnerability. But there’s a very personal reason I jumped to trust early in my research career, and it was a personal experience.

BB: One day my daughter Ellen came home from school, she was in third grade, and the minute we closed the front door, she literally just started sobbing and slid down the door, until she was just kind of a heap of crying on the floor and of course I was… It scared me and I said, “What’s wrong Ellen? What happened? What happened?” And she pulled herself together enough to say “I… Something really hard happened to me today at school, and I shared it with a couple of my friends during recess. And by the time we got back into the classroom, everyone in my class knew what had happened, and they were laughing and pointing at me and calling me names.” And it was so bad, and the kids were being so disruptive that her teacher even had to take marbles out of this marble jar. And the marble jar in the classroom is a jar where if the kids are making great choices together, the teacher adds marbles, if they’re making not great choices, the teacher takes out marbles and if the jar gets filled up, there’s a celebration for the class.

BB: And so she said, “It was one of the worst moments in my life. They were laughing and pointing and Ms. Baucom my teacher kept saying, “I’m going to take marbles out.” And she didn’t know what was happening, and she looked at me and she just with this face that is just seared into my mind and said, “I will never trust anyone again.” And my first reaction to be really honest with you was, “Damn straight.” You don’t tell anybody anything but your momma. Yeah, right? That’s it. That was like, you just tell me and when you grow up and you go off to school, Momma will go too. I’ll get a little apartment. And the other thing I was thinking, to be quite honest with you is, “I will find out who those kids were.” And while I’m not going to beat up a 9-year-old, I know their mommas. That’s the place you go to. And I’m like, “How am I going to explain trust to this third grader in front of me.” So I took a deep breath and I said, “Ellen, trust is like a marble jar.” She said, “What do you mean?” And I said, “You share those hard stories and those hard things that are happening to you with friends who over time you filled up their marble jar. They’ve done thing after thing after thing, where you’re like, “I know I can share this with this person.” Does that make sense?

BB: And that’s what Ellen said, “Yes, that makes sense.” And I said, “Do you have any marble jar friends?” And she said, “Oh yeah, I totally… Hannah and Lorna are marble jar friends.” And I said… And then this is where things got interesting, and I said, “Tell me what you mean, how do they earn marbles for you?” And she’s like, “Well, Lorna, if there’s not a seat for me at the lunch cafeteria, she’ll scoot over and give me half a hiney seat.” And I’m like, “She will?” She’s like, “Yeah, she’ll just sit like that and so I can sit with her.” And I said, “That’s a big deal. This is not what I was expecting to hear.” And I said… Then she said, “And you know, Hannah, on Sunday at my soccer game?” And I was waiting for this story where she said “I got hit by a ball and I was laying on the field and Hannah picked me up and ran me to first aid,” and I was like “Yeah?” And she said, “Hannah looked over and she saw Oma and Opa,” my parents, my… Her grandparents, and she said, “Look, your Oma and Opa are here.”

BB: And I was like… And I was like, “Boy, she got a marble for that?” And she goes, we know, not all my friends have eight grandparents,” because my parents were divorced and remarried, my husband’s parents were divorced and re-married, and she said, “And it was so nice to me that she remembered their names.” And I was like, “Hmm.” And she said, “Do you have marble jar friends?” And I said, “Yeah, I do have a couple of marble jar friends.” And she said, “Well, what kind of things do they do to get marbles?” And this feeling came over me and I thought the first thing I could think of because we were talking about the soccer game, was that same game my good friend Eileen walked up to my parents and said, “Deanne, David, good to see you.” And I remember what that felt like for me. And I was like, certainly, trust cannot be built by these small insignificant moments in our lives, it’s got to be a grander gesture than that. So as a researcher, I start looking into the data, I gather up the doctoral students who’ve worked with me, we start looking.

BB: And it is crystal clear. Trust is built in very small moments. And when we started looking at examples of when people talked about trust in the research, they said things like, “Yeah, I really trust my boss, she even asked me how my mom’s chemotherapy was going.” “I trust neighbor, because if something’s going on with my kid, it doesn’t matter what she’s doing, she’ll come over and help me figure it out.” You know, one of the number one things emerged around trust and small things, people who attend funerals. This is someone who showed up at my sister’s funeral. Another huge marble jar moment for people, “I trust him, because he’ll ask for help when he needs it.” How many of you are better at giving help than asking for help, right? So asking for help is one of those moments. So one of the ways I work as a grounded theory researcher is I look at the data first, then I go in and see what other researchers are talking about and saying, because we believe the best theories are not built on other existing theories, but on our own lived experiences.

BB: So after I had looked at this, I said, “Let me see what the research says.” And I went to John Gottman, who’s been studying relationship for 30 years, he has an amazing work on trust and betrayal, and the first thing I read, “Trust is built in the smallest of moments.” And he calls them sliding door moments. Sliding Doors as a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow from the ’90s. Have y’all seen this movie? So it’s a really tough movie, because what happens is it follows her life to the seemingly unimportant moment where she’s trying to get on a train and she makes the train, but the movie stops and splits into two parts where she makes the train and she doesn’t make the train, and it follows them to radically different endings.

BB: And he would argue that trust is a sliding door moment, and the example that he gives is so powerful. He said he was lying in bed one night, he had 10 pages left of his murder mystery, and he had a feeling he knew who the killer was, but he was dying to finish this book, so he said, “I don’t even want… I want to get up, brush my teeth, go to the bathroom and get back in and not have to get up.” I just want… You know that feeling when you just want to get all situated and read the end of your book. So he gets up and he goes, he walks past his wife in the bathroom, who’s brushing her hair and who looks really sad, and he said “My first thought was, just keep walking. Just keep walking.” And how many of you have had that moment where you walk past someone and you’re like, “Oh God, they look… ” Avert your eyes. [laughter] Or you look at caller ID or your cell phone, and you’re like, “Oh yeah, I know she’s in a big mess right now, I don’t have time to pick up the phone,” right? Yes or no? [laughter]

BB: This looks like guilty laughter to me. So he said, that’s a sliding door moment, and here’s what struck me about his story, because he said, “There is the opportunity to build trust, and there is the opportunity to betray, because as small as the moments of trust can be, those are the moments of betrayal as well, to choose to not connect when the opportunity is there, is a betrayal.” So he took the brush out of her hand and started brushing her hair and said, “What’s going on with you right now, babe?” That’s a moment of trust, right? So fast forward five years, and I’m clear about trust, and I talk about trust as the marble jar, we got to really share our stories and our hard stuff with people whose jars are full, people who have over time really done those small things that have helped us believe that they’re worth our story, but the new question for me was this, what are those marbles? What is trust? What do we talk about when we talk about trust? Trust is a big word, right? To hear, “I trust you” or “I don’t trust you,” I don’t even know what that means, so I want to know what is the anatomy of trust? What does that mean?

BB: So I started looking in the research and I found a definition from Charles Feltman that I think is the most beautiful definition I’ve ever heard, and it’s simply this, “Trust is choosing to make something important to you vulnerable to the actions of someone else.” Choosing to make something important to you, vulnerable to the actions of someone else. Feltman says that, “Distrust is what I have shared with you that is important to me, is not safe with you.” So I thought that’s true, and Feltman really calls for this, let’s understand what trust is.

BB: So we went back into all the data to find out; “Can I figure out what trust is, do I know what trust is from the data?” And I think I do know what trust is, and I put together an acronym, BRAVING, B-R-A-V-I-N-G, BRAVING because when we trust, we are braving connection with someone. So what are the parts of trust? B, boundaries. I trust you. If you are clear about your boundaries and you hold them and you’re clear about my boundaries and you respect them, there is no trust without boundaries. R, reliability. I can only trust you if you do what you say you’re going to do, and not once. Reliability. Let me tell you what reliability is in research terms. We’re always looking for things that are valid and reliable. Any researchers here or research kind of geeks?

BB: There’s ten of us. Okay, so we would say a scale that you weigh yourself on is valid if you get on it and it’s an accurate weight, 120. [laughter] Okay. So that would be a very valid scale, I would pay a lot of money for that scale. So that’s actually not a valid scale but we’ll pretend for the sake of this. That’s a valid scale. A reliable scale is a scale that if I got on it 100 times, it’s going to say the same thing every time. So what reliability is, is you do what you say you’re going to do over and over and over again. You cannot gain and earn my trust if you’re reliable once, because that’s not the definition of reliability. In our working lives, reliability means that we have to be very clear on our limitations, so we don’t take on so much that we come up short and don’t deliver on our commitments.

BB: In our personal life, it means the same thing. So when we say to someone, “Oh God, it was so great seeing you, I’m going to give you a call and we can have lunch.” Yes or no? No, “It was really great seeing you.” Moment of discomfort. “Goodbye.” [laughter] Right? But honest, honest. So B, boundaries; R, reliability; A, huge, accountability. I can only trust you if when you make a mistake, you’re willing to own it, apologize for it, and make amends. I can only trust you if when I make a mistake, I am allowed to own it, apologize, and make amends. No accountability, no trust. V… And this one shook me to the core, vault. The vault. What I share with you, you will hold in confidence; what you share with me I will hold in confidence, but you know what we don’t understand, and this came up over and over again in the research. We don’t understand the other side of the vault, that’s only one door on the vault.

BB: Here’s where we lose trust with people. If a good friend comes up to me and says, “Oh my God, did you hear about Caroline? They’re getting a divorce. And it is ugly. I’m pretty sure her partner’s cheating.” You have just shared something with me that was not yours to share, and now my trust for you, even though you’re gossiping and giving me the juice, now my trust for you is completely diminished.

BB: Does that make sense?

BB: So the vault is not just about the fact that you hold my confidences, it’s that in our relationship, I see that you acknowledge confidentiality. Here’s the tricky thing about the vault, a lot of times, we share things that are not ours to share as a way to hot wire connection with a friend. Right? If you don’t have anything nice to say, “Come sit next to me.” That’s our… Yes or no? Like our closeness is built on talking bad about other people. You know what I call that? Common enemy intimacy. What we have is not real. The intimacy we have is built on hating the same people, and that’s counterfeit, that’s counterfeit trust. That’s not real.

BB: So the vault means you respect my story, but you respect other people’s story. I, Integrity. I cannot trust you and be in a trusting relationship with you, if you do not act from a place of integrity and encourage me to do the same. So what is integrity? So I came up with this definition because I didn’t like any of the ones out there and that’s what I do when I don’t like them. I do, I look in the data and I say, “What’s integrity?” Here’s what I think integrity is: Three pieces. It’s choosing courage over comfort, choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast or easy, and practicing your values, not just professing your values. Right? That’s integrity.

BB: N, Non-judgment. I can fall apart, ask for help, and be in struggle without being judged by you, and you can fall apart and be in struggle and ask for help without being judged by me, which is really hard because we’re better at helping than we are asking for help. And we think that we’ve set up trusting relationships with people who really trust us because we’re always there to help them, but let me tell you this, if you can’t ask for help and they cannot reciprocate that, that is not a trusting relationship. Period. And when we assign value to needing help, when I think less of myself for needing help, whether you’re conscious of it or not, when you offer help to someone, you think less of them too.

BB: You cannot judge yourself for needing help, but not judge others for needing your help, and somewhere in there, if you’re like me, you’re getting value from being the helper in a relationship, you think that’s your worth, but real trust doesn’t exist unless help is reciprocal and non-judgment. The last one is G, Generosity. Our relationship is only a trusting relationship if you can assume the most generous thing about my words, intentions, and behaviors, and then check in with me, so if I screw up, say something, forget something, you will make a generous assumption and say, “Yesterday was my mom’s one year anniversary of her death, and it was really tough for me, and I talked to you about it last month, and I really was hoping that you would have called, but I know you care about me, I know you think it’s a big deal, so I want to let you know that I’ve been thinking about that.”

BB: As opposed to not returning calls, not returning emails, and waiting for the moment where you can spring, “Well, you forgot to call on this important… ” You’ll make a generous assumption about me and check it out. Does that make sense? So we’ve got Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, the Vault, Integrity, Non-judgment, and Generosity. These, this is the anatomy of trust, and it’s complex. Why do we need to break it down? For a very simple reason. How many of you in here have ever struggled with trust in a relationship, professional or personal? It should be everybody. Statistically. Right? [laughter]

BB: And so what you end up saying to someone is, “I don’t trust you.” “What do you mean you don’t trust me? I love you, I’m so dependable. What do you mean you don’t trust me?” How do we talk about trust if we can’t break it down? What understanding trust gives us is words to say, “Here’s my struggle. You’re not reliable with me. You say you’re going to do something, I count on it you don’t do it,” or maybe the issue is non-judgment, but we can break it down and talk about it and ask for what we need very specifically, instead of using this huge word that has tons of weight and value around it, we can say here’s specifically what’s not working. What’s not working is we’ve got a boundaries issue.

BB: So one of the things that’s interesting, I think, is one of the biggest casualties with heartbreak and disappointment and failure in our struggle is not just a loss of trust with other people, but the loss of self-trust. When something hard happens in our lives, the first thing we say is, “I will not… I can’t trust myself. I was so stupid, I was so naïve.” So this BRAVING acronym works with self-trust too. So when something happens, I just recently went through a really tough failure, and I had to ask myself, “Did I honor my own boundaries? Was I reliable? Can I count on myself? Did I hold myself accountable? Was I really protective of my stories? Did I stay in my integrity? Was I judgmental toward myself?”

BB: And did I give myself the benefit of the doubt, “Was I generous toward myself?” Because if BRAVING relationships with other people is BRAVING connection, self-trust is BRAVING self-love, self-respect, the wildest adventure we’ll ever take in our whole lives. And so what I would invite you to think about when you think about trust, is if your own marble jar is not full, if you can’t count on yourself, you can’t ask other people to give you what you don’t have. So we have to start with self-trust. There’s a great quote from Maya Angelou that says, “I don’t trust people who don’t love themselves, but say I love you.” Right?

BB: She quotes an African proverb when she said that, and she said, “Be wary of the naked man offering you a shirt.” [laughter] And so a lot of times, if you find yourself in struggle with trust, the thing to examine first is your own marble jar, how you treat yourself, because we can’t ask people to give to us something that we do not believe we’re worthy of receiving. And you will know you’re worthy of receiving it when you trust yourself above everyone else. So thank you all so much, I’m so honored to be here. Thank you.

BB: Okay, I hope you all enjoyed that. A big shout out and a big thank you to Oprah and the Super Soul team. You can follow the Super Soul podcast on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast. You know that every episode that we do both Unlocking Us and Dare To Lead has a page on brenebrown.com… On the new brenebrown.com.

BG: Yeah, the new beautiful brenebrown.com. Check it out.

BB: We are leveling up our aesthetic game.

BG: Yes, we are.

BB: Yeah. Beauty and excellence is one of our values here at BBEARG, which stands for Brené Brown Education and Research Group, but I think about it so much now, after interviewing Sarah Lewis on Dare To Lead about aesthetic force and the importance of beauty and aesthetics. Yeah, important. So we on a new website, which is so gorgeous, and shout out to the team that made that happen.

BG: Totally.

BB: Big, big, big lift. Don’t forget to join us for the Atlas of the Heart live virtual launch on December 2nd. And stay awkward, brave, and kind, y’all. We’re grateful for you. Want to say bye?

BB: Unlocking Us is a Spotify original from Parcast. It’s hosted by me, Brené Brown. It’s produced by Max Cutler, Kristen Acevedo, Carleigh Madden, and Tristan McNeil and by Weird Lucy Productions. Sound design by Tristan McNeil and music is by the amazing Carrie Rodriguez and the amazing Gina Chavez.

Brené Brown Education and Research Group, LLC, owns the copyright in and to all content in and transcripts of the Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead podcasts, with all rights reserved, including right of publicity.

What’s Okay

You are welcome to share an excerpt from the episode transcript (up to 500 words but not more) in media articles (e.g., The New York Times , LA Times , The Guardian ), in a non-commercial article or blog post (e.g., Medium ), and/or on a personal social media account for non-commercial purposes, provided that you include proper attribution and link back to the podcast URL. For the sake of clarity, media outlets with advertising models are permitted to use excerpts from the transcript per the above.

What’s Not Okay

No one is authorized to copy any portion of the podcast content or use Brené Brown’s name, image or likeness for any commercial purpose or use, including without limitation inclusion in any books, e-books, book summaries or synopses, or on a commercial website or social media site (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) that offers or promotes your or another’s products or services. For the sake of clarity, media outlets are permitted to use photos of Brené Brown from her Media Kit page or license photos from Getty Images, etc.

Username or Email Address

Stay Connected

" * " indicates required fields

By submitting, I am agreeing to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .

SUGGESTED TOPICS
The Magazine
Newsletters
Managing Yourself
Managing Teams
Work-life Balance
The Big Idea
Data & Visuals
Reading Lists
Case Selections
HBR Learning
Topic Feeds
Account Settings
Email Preferences

To Win Over an Audience, Focus on Building Trust

Allison Shapira
David Horsager

Five tactics for leaders.

When we craft a presentation, we sometimes spend more time on how to deliver the message than on the strategy and vision that will make the message more effective. We make a monumental mistake when we skip strategy and head straight for delivery. Instead, presenters should focus on building trust. The authors identified five competencies a leader can utilize to gain buy-in and build trust in the context of a presentation: clarity, compassion, competency, connection, consistency.

A few years ago, David was giving a talk at the National Speakers Association on the topic of trust. Standing in front of a room full of professional speakers, he made a bold assertion: “Communication is never the core issue. Trust is.”

Allison Shapira teaches “The Arts of Communication” at the Harvard Kennedy School and is the Founder/CEO of Global Public Speaking, a training firm that helps emerging and established leaders to speak clearly, concisely, and confidently. She is the author of the new book, Speak with Impact: How to Command the Room and Influence Others (HarperCollins Leadership).
DH David Horsager is the CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute and a global authority on building high-trust teams and organizations. He is the Trust Expert in Residence at High Point University, inventor of the Enterprise Trust Index™, director of global study: The Trust Outlook® and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Trust Edge and his latest release Trusted Leader.

Partner Center

Home › Trust Quotes to Help You Build Trust

Trust Quotes to Help You Build Trust

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. See our disclosure for more info.

Trust is “a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” These trust quotes show what it means to be trusting and trustworthy.

When we trust someone, we have confidence in them and in their honesty and integrity . We believe that they will do the things they say they will, and recognize their abilities and strengths.

Trust can be a fragile thing, but it is the foundation on which all relationships are built.

In that spirit, here are the best trust quotes to help you trust more easily. So whether you’re starting a new relationship, want to be more trusting of others, or work on being trustworthy yourself, you’ll find the perfect trust quote here.

Page Contents

Top 10 Trust Quotes

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted. Lao Tzu

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. Ernest Hemingway

Santosh Kalwar quote "Trust starts with truth and ends with truth"

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trust, but verify. Ronald Reagan

You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible. Anton Chekhov

Men trust their ears less than their eyes. Herodotus

Lincoln Chafee quote "Trust is built with consistency"

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships. Stephen Covey

Trust is like a vase, once it’s broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be same again. Walter Anderson

Quotes about Trust

Consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them. Roy T. Bennett

Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time. Maya Angelou

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters. Albert Einstein

The people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust. Abraham Lincoln

Dean Ornish quote "Fear leads to more fear, and trust leads to more trust"

The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool. Stephen King

Keep your promises and be consistent. Be the kind of person others can trust. Roy T. Bennett

I would rather trust a woman’s instinct than a man’s reason. Stanley Baldwin

Trust is not the same as faith. A friend is someone you trust. Putting faith in anyone is a mistake. Christopher Hitchens

Trust dies but mistrust blossoms. Sophocles

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. Abraham Lincoln

I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you. Friedrich Nietzsche

Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust. Zig Ziglar

"Trust opens up new and unimagined possibilities"

Trust is very hard if you don’t know what you’re trusting. Marianne Williamson

Love meant jumping off a cliff and trusting that a certain person would be there to catch you at the bottom. Jodi Picoult

Trust is not an obsession, it’s an extension of love . When we truly love someone, we give them our heart to hold in their hands. And when that love is returned, that very trust is balm to our souls. Julie Lessman

Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust. Albert Einstein

The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends. Marcus Tullius Cicero

For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first. Suzanne Collins

Responsibility is always a sign of trust. James Cash Penney

We’re paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It’s that simple. Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird

One of the reasons I don’t trust the media is you can’t have a double standard for guys you like and dislike. Charles Barkley

George MacDonald quote "To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved"

When truth takes a backseat to ego and politics, trust is lost. Patrick Lencioni

What loneliness is more lonely than distrust? George Eliot

I read the New York Times but I don’t trust all of it. David Byrne

Forgiveness must be immediate, whether or not a person asks for it. Trust must be rebuilt over time. Trust requires a track record. Rick Warren

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. Warren Bennis

Because you believed I was capable of behaving decently, I did. Paolo Coelho

The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself. Winston Churchill

"Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved"

Trust is like blood pressure. It’s silent, vital to good health, and if abused it can be deadly. Frank Sonnenberg

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody. Thomas Paine

Trust is only gained when one person risks and doesn’t get harmed. It grows as both people increasingly risk and don’t get harmed in the process. Glen Williams

Be impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Don Miguel Ruiz

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams. Elizabeth Gilbert

Always tell the truth or the truth will tell on you. Frank Sonnenberg

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey

The primary reason people believe in anything is because others believe. Brian Norgard

Anonymous quote "Don’t trust everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar.

Only those you trust can betray you. Terry Goodkind

Wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him. Booker T. Washington

Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it. Richard Rohr

It is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. H.L. Mencken

Trusting is hard. Knowing who to trust, even harder. Maria V. Snyder

Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks. Isaac Watts

Trust no friend without faults, and love a woman, but no angel. Doris Lessing

Stephen Covey trust quote "Trust is the highest form of human motivation"

Learn to trust the journey, even when you do not understand it. Lolly Daskal

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement. Alfred Adler

Trusting Others

Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. Aesop

A king who trusts no man is weak. Patricia Briggs

Better to trust the man who is frequently in error than the one who is never in doubt. Eric Sevareid

It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust nobody. English Proverb

A man trusts another man when he sees enough of himself in him. Gregory David Roberts

You can’t trust anybody with power. Newt Gingrich

"Don’t trust people who tell you other people’s secrets"

Trust everybody, but cut the cards. Finley Peter Dunne

To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it. E.M. Forster

Never trust the version that people give of themselves — it is utterly unreliable. Robert Greene

Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. Friedrich Nietzsche

The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once. Rene Descartes

It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them. Confucius

Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody. Agatha Christie

A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts. Harold Macmillan

Virgil quote "Trust one who has gone through it"

People that have trust issues only need to look in the mirror. There they will meet the one person that will betray them the most. Shannon L. Adler

It’s good to trust others but not to do so is much better. Benito Mussolini

Sometimes you don’t know who you can and cannot trust. I still learn that over and over again. Demi Lovato

It’s a delight to trust somebody so completely. Jeff Goldblum

If you have three people in your life that you can trust, you can consider yourself the luckiest person in the whole world. Selena Gomez

In this world, there was nothing scarier than trusting someone. But there was also nothing more rewarding. Brad Meltzer

I trust everyone. I just don’t trust the devil inside them. Troy Kennedy-Martin

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence. Democritus

Beau Mirchoff quote "A healthy relationship is built on unwavering trust"

There’s never a reason to trust someone. If there’s a reason, then it’s not trust. Gerald Morris

People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves. Tim Ferris

Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities of which they were previously unaware. David Armistead

Loving someone is giving them the power to break your heart, but trusting them not to. Julianne Moore

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself. Robert E. Lee

Trusting Yourself

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I trust myself. You need that to survive. Yoko Ono

Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you. David Gemmell

Sanntosh Kalwar quote "Trust yourself, you will start to trust others"

Take no one’s word for anything, including mine – but trust your experience. James Baldwin

You must train your intuition – you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide. Ingrid Bergman

I trust no one, not even myself. Joseph Stalin

Trust your own instincts, go inside, follow your heart. Right from the start. Go ahead and stand up for what you believe in. As I’ve learned, that’s the path to happiness . Lesley Ann Warren

Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level. Joyce Brothers

Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you cannot trust yourself, you cannot even trust your mistrust of yourself – so that without this underlying trust in the whole system of nature you are simply paralyzed. Alan Watts

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough. Frank Crane

Emerson quote "In self trust all the virtues are comprehended"

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Kahlil Gibran

Trusting God

Quit questioning God and start trusting Him! Joel Osteen

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God . Corie ten Boom

We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive. Lord Byron

Never trust anyone completely but God. Love people, but put your full trust only in God. Lawrence Welk

They that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded! George Muller

Jean Shepherd quote "In God we trust all others pay cash"

Put your trust in God; but be sure to keep your powder dry. Oliver Cromwell

Trust is that rare and priceless treasure that wins us the affection of our heavenly Father. Brennan Manning

We hope these trust quotes have you ready to trust others and yourself.

Building trust is crucial for the survival of your friendships, romantic relationships, and workplace connections. Without trust, relationships fail because one or both parties feel insecure or let down.

Cultivate trust by being open and transparent in the beginning; being dependable, consistent, and reliable; and taking responsibility when things don’t work out quite you planned.

So get out there and give trust a chance again today!

Quincy Seale

Welcome Speech for an Alumni Meeting

Speech on Feminism

Speech on Adolescent Pregnancy

About the author.

FindaSpeech

Senior Fellows
Research Fellows
Submission Guidelines
Media Inquiries
Commentary & Analysis

Upcoming Events

Past Events
October 2021 War Studies Conference
November 2020 War Studies Conference
November 2018 War Studies Conference
March 2018 War Studies Conference
November 2016 War Studies Conference
MWI Podcast
Urban Warfare Project Podcast
Irregular Warfare Podcast
Social Science of War
Urban Warfare Project
Irregular Warfare Initiative
Project 6633
Shield Notes
Rethinking Civ-Mil
Competition in Cyberspace Project
Book Reviews

Select Page

On Trust and Leadership

William Ostlund | 12.19.18

Mission command is fundamental to the way we, in the Army, fight. It is rooted deeply in our Army doctrine and it is how we expect commanders to command and lead. The first principle of mission command is “Build cohesive teams through mutual trust.”

Whether that trust is developed—consistently, and to the degree and in the places necessary to enable effective mission command—might be an uncomfortable question. But it is one our Army needs to ask as we seek to create cross-domain synergy in multi-domain operations.

In May 2017, the Army News Service published an article titled “Future warfare requires ‘disciplined disobedience,’ Army chief says.” The article is a play on one of the six principles of mission command: exercise disciplined initiative. The premise of the article, for which the author interviewed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, is that future, complex battlefields will feature dispersed and disconnected small units operating to achieve common objectives—and that junior leaders will be required to make rapid decisions, within their commanders’ intent, in order to preserve combat power, accomplish the purpose, and defeat the enemy. Gen. Milley made clear that commanders must not only convey tasks to subordinate leaders, but also the purpose of those tasks. Moreover, he continued, leaders, even junior leaders, on future battlefields will be required to understand this purpose, and must have the competence to know what right action must be taken to accomplish not just the task, but the purpose, and the confidence to do what is right to accomplish the purpose.

I would suggest that this has actually been a common feature of our post-9/11 wars, as we have opted to man dispersed bases with less than reliable connectivity and then patrolled away from these outposts in terrain that further disrupted communications. This has necessitated that leaders—with their lives and those of their soldiers on the line—are switched on to not just completing tasks, but accomplishing the commanders’ intent, in some cases even deriving that intent when not clearly provided by higher.

In September 2018, retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno and Dr. Nora Bensahel authored an article titled “Are You Enough? Our Speech to the PME Class of 2019,” in which they proposed remarks for mid-level and senior service college students. This article asked the students, some of our best and brightest:

Are you enough? Are you enough for what the country will need from you in the next 10 or 15 or 20 years? Are you capable of leading the nation and the military through its next major war? That’s a really big question, and the fate of the nation may very well ride on the answer. Each and every one of you should spend the next year making absolutely sure that the answer is a resounding yes. Are you smart enough? Are you open-minded enough? Are you adaptable enough? Are you strategic enough? Are you humble enough?

Here again, I would suggest these “students” that have spent their careers training for and deploying to combat at the company- and then field-grade level are, by every one of these measures, “enough.” The questions we should be asking are of those entrusted with our operational and strategic leadership. Are you enough? Can you see over the ridgeline? Can you manage the operational and strategic fight without diving into in the tactical one? Do you credibly and consistently employ the principles of mission command or are you a turtle—one that basks in the sun of mission command when all is well but immediately dives into the pond and swims away from the principles when there is a disruption? Do you train, trust, and vigorously support subordinates or do you expect the Army values and trust to only flow upward toward you? These questions are not about giving subordinates a pass for misdeeds, but about overtly supporting them, even when it may not be popular to do so, when they are successfully operating within the mission command construct set by their commanders.

Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-0: Mission Command is written for a principal audience of “all professionals within the Army,” and defines mission command thus : “Mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations.”

The six principles of mission command are: 1) Build cohesive teams through mutual trust; 2) Create shared understanding; 3) Provide a clear commander’s intent; 4) Exercise disciplined initiative; 5) Use mission orders; and 6) Accept prudent risk.

“Trust” appears in ADP 6-0 nineteen times. “Mutual trust is shared confidence among commanders, subordinates, and partners,” the manual states , for example, in one passage. “Effective commanders build cohesive teams in an environment of mutual trust. There are few shortcuts to gaining the trust of others. Trust takes time and must be earned. Commanders earn trust by upholding the Army values and exercising leadership, consistent with the Army’s leadership principles.”

ADP 6-0 further tells us that “trust is gained or lost through everyday actions more than grand or occasional gestures. It comes from successful shared experiences and training, usually gained incidental to operations but also deliberately developed by the commander. While sharing experiences, the interaction of the commander, subordinates, and Soldiers through two-way communication reinforces trust. Soldiers expect to see the chain of command accomplish the mission while taking care of their welfare and sharing hardships and danger.” Elsewhere still, it says that “commanders use communication to strengthen bonds within a command. Communication builds trust, cooperation, cohesion, and shared understanding.”

In our doctrine manual on leadership, ADP 6-22: Army Leadership , “trust” is mentioned another thirteen times. “Trust, commitment, and competence,” the manual states , “enable mission command and allow the freedom of action to be operationally agile and adaptive.” In perhaps the most concise encapsulation of how leaders should create and enhance trust within their formations, ADP 6-22 says that “Army leaders build trust by being honest and dependable.” Still another manual, Army Doctrinal Reference Publication (ADRP) 6-22: Army Leadership , highlights the Army values. “The Army recognizes seven values that all Army members must develop,” it says . “When read in sequence, the first letters of the Army Values form the acronym ‘LDRSHIP’: 1) L oyalty, 2) D uty, 3) R espect, 4) S elfless service, 5) H onor, 6) I ntegrity, and 7) P ersonal courage.”

“Trust” may not fit into the acronym, but is inherent to all of our values. “Loyalty” and “trust,” for instance, are paired together in more than one place in our doctrine. An example , from ADRP 6-22: “Good units build loyalty and trust through training. . . . Loyalty and trust are extremely critical for the successful day-to-day operations of all organizations.” Junior soldiers and officers know the Army values and they understand trust. But all who serve in our nation’s Army—from our newest soldiers to our most senior leaders—need to understand trust. Trust should not be viewed as a linear construct, and certainly not one in which trust flows predominantly in one direction. Rather, it must be treated as a spherical construct, in which the Army values, along with trust, are demonstrated fully and uniformly throughout the service, trust flows not only up the chain but down as well, and both are spread laterally to peers and adjacent units. To return once more to our doctrine , “Trust, commitment, and competence enable mission command and allow the freedom of action to be operationally agile and adaptive.” And “Army leaders build trust by being honest and dependable.” It is abundantly clear that our very effectiveness as a cohesive fighting force absolutely requires these maxims to be reflected at every level, to include our highest levels.

The majority of junior officers addressed by Gen. Milley don’t need to be encouraged to be competent and courageous. I can say confidently from my experience with them—one of the great privileges of my military service—that they have a high tolerance for uncertainty and are brave enough to make the hard calls required to accomplish the mission and protect their force. Nor do the field-grade officers need to question if they are “enough.” What we need, from our Army chief of staff down through field-grade officers, is a discussion about trust and how this is interpreted over time and as one serves at higher levels. I suggest that, within our Army’s culture, we need senior leaders to proactively and consistently practice mission command and foster trust, through action , throughout the force; train, trust, and vigorously support subordinates in the austere, complex, dispersed conditions—conditions company- and field-grade leaders have successfully served in and will do again in the future. Senior officers should pass praise downward for the good things our units do; and when things go sideways, if they are to build and encourage trust and effective organizations, they need to proactively and overtly own the bad things that happen—in training and combat—within the mission command construct they put in place.

Senior leaders throughout our ranks must create shared understanding by consistently using mission orders that include a clearly articulated and understood commander’s intent. If we look back on our deployment history over the past seventeen years of war, a number of battalion and brigade commanders (and likely captains and lieutenants) have been forced to infer their commanders’ intent, do the best they can in the absence of clear intent, and when the fog and friction of war impose themselves, find themselves with no shared understanding or support from senior leaders. This destroys trust and is incongruent with our stated values. And it is unacceptable. When senior leaders do what our own doctrine makes clear is so vital—foster trust, create shared understanding, use mission orders, and provide a clear commander’s intent—and proactively and overtly own the prudent risk accepted by subordinates, those subordinates will habitually identify and accept prudent risk and exercise disciplined initiative. And they will be best prepared to win America’s tactical battles on the complex, dispersed, multi-domain battlefields of the future.

Further, if our forces and our country need competent, agile, aggressive, risk-taking leaders—leaders that amass hard-won tactical victories but also assume the possibility of failure when accepting prudent risk—then those same people must be propagated into the senior ranks, so they can bring these demonstrated characteristics, and much-needed resilience, to our operational and strategic levels of leadership.

Whether we get this right will have serious ramifications in our future wars. The secretary of the Army provides guidance, through the chief of staff, to senior leader promotion boards. General officers sit on these boards and interpret the guidance to other board members. Generals may choose to promote the most competent—those with the characteristics discussed in our doctrine—or the most palatable. When our sons and daughters enter the service and face near-peer adversaries, under supremely challenging circumstances and on complex, multi-domain battlefields, who do we want—who does our country need —to be in command: the most competent or the most palatable?

Image credit: 1st Lt. Leland White, US Army

Sir, tremendously powerful article. I remember our time at SOCOM and Adm McRaven talking about the “speed of trust” and how it takes time to gain trust, but it can also be lost in an instant. I currently lead 120 analysts for the Joint Staff J2 and everyday I communicate the “purpose” of their work and why their analysis matters. I’ve noticed sharper and more prescient analysis from my team. I know this example pales in comparison to leading in combat, but the concept you describe for mission command even applies to those who support our combat commanders and missions. I am making this mandatory reading for my office. Thanks for your leadership and service to our nation! – Jimmie

Dear Col. Couldn't agree more. We are in the 21st Century. Definition of scholar warrior is the one who can learn , unlearn and relearn in the fast changing battlefield milieu.

an excellent article can I suggested visiting our page in support of your argument

Mission Orders must have commanders thoroughly analyze the enemy situation no matter how complex it is. It must not be relegated to the S2, "Intel guy", a young staff officer.

Since Soldiers fight for each other then the mission's purpose must be truly defined in relation to the enemy, higher HQ and the units on the left and right. Once the fight begins, tasks may change.

This nesting of purpose (Gen Depuy) enables for trust and initiative once the battle ensues.

We must go well beyond the basic task "blocking and tackling" that can be easily defined.

Field Grade level thinking should define the purpose. However, if we contine to train and educate Company Grades to analyze and define it then we will truly unleash the initiative that they must operate with in the platoon and squad level fights on today's complex battlefield.

Sir, Great article on trust and mission command. For that last several years, I have been arguing that character is the foundation of leadership and that trust is the cornerstone of that foundation. In my talks with NCOs, I teach that their Sergeants and Soldiers will only take initiative if they trust the Officers and senior NCOs will stick up for them when they make imperfect decisions in the absence of orders. Absent that trust, they will sit around doing nothing perfectly awaiting their next tasking.

Announcements

Announcing the Modern War Institute’s 2023–24 Senior and Research Fellows
Essay Contest Call for Submissions: Solving the Military Recruiting Crisis
Call for Applications: MWI’s 2023–24 Research Fellows Program
Join Us This Friday for a Livestream with Ambassador Michael McFaul and Secretary Chuck Hagel

Speech Script: About Friendship

Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies and gentlemen! Today, I stand before you to explore the beautiful and transformative concept of friendship. Friendship is a bond that enriches our lives, brings us joy, and provides us with unwavering support. In this speech, we will delve into the essence of friendship and discuss how to craft a memorable speech that captures its essence. Together, we will explore the key elements that make a speech on friendship impactful, inspiring, and relatable. So, let us embark on this journey of celebrating and honoring the remarkable power of friendship.

Table of Contents

Friendship Speech Tips

Understanding friendship.

Before we dive into the art of writing a speech on friendship, let us first understand the true essence of friendship. Friendship is a treasured relationship built on trust, mutual respect, and genuine care for one another. It is a bond that transcends boundaries, celebrates our similarities, embraces our differences, and provides us with emotional support during both our triumphs and trials. True friendship is a sanctuary where we can be our authentic selves, where acceptance and understanding abound.

Defining the Purpose and Tone

When crafting a speech on friendship, it is essential to define the purpose and tone of your message. Consider the occasion and audience for which you are delivering the speech. Are you speaking at a graduation ceremony, a farewell party, or a casual gathering of friends? Understanding the context will help you determine the appropriate tone—whether it be celebratory, reflective, or even humorous. Additionally, consider the main message you want to convey about friendship. Is it the importance of loyalty, the power of shared experiences, or the impact of support? Clarifying your purpose will ensure a focused and impactful speech.

Sharing Personal Experiences

One of the most effective ways to connect with your audience when speaking about friendship is by sharing personal experiences. Draw from your own life and reflect on memorable moments that highlight the significance of friendship. Whether it’s a heartwarming anecdote, a transformative journey, or a lesson learned, personal stories add depth and authenticity to your speech. By sharing your experiences, you create a relatable connection and inspire others to reflect on their own friendships.

Utilizing Emotional Appeal

To create an impactful speech on friendship, it is important to tap into the emotions of your audience. Friendship is inherently tied to our emotions, and evoking those emotions can help drive your message home. Use descriptive language, vivid imagery, and heartfelt anecdotes to paint a picture that resonates with your listeners. Whether it’s describing the joy of shared laughter, the comfort of a shoulder to lean on, or the strength of unwavering support, engaging emotions will leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Incorporating Inspirational Quotes and Literature

Quotations and references from renowned authors, philosophers, and poets can add depth and richness to your speech on friendship. Seek out quotes that capture the essence of friendship and amplify your message. Whether it’s Aristotle’s reflections on true friendship, William Shakespeare’s poetic musings on companionship, or contemporary authors’ insights, incorporating these literary gems adds credibility and showcases the universality of friendship. These quotes can serve as touchstones throughout your speech, reinforcing your main ideas and inspiring your audience.

Offering Practical Advice and Reflection

A memorable speech on friendship goes beyond anecdotes and emotions; it also offers practical advice and encourages self-reflection. Share tips for nurturing and sustaining friendships, such as active listening, open communication, and being present in each other’s lives. Encourage your audience to reflect on their own friendships, to reach out and mend broken bonds, and to cherish the connections they have. By providing practical guidance and fostering introspection, your speech can inspire meaningful action and personal growth.

Friendship Speech Example #1

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning/afternoon/evening!

Today, I stand before you to celebrate a timeless and precious bond that has shaped humanity since the beginning of time: friendship. Friendship is a gift that transcends borders, cultures, and generations. It is a bond that brings light to our lives, adds color to our experiences, and provides us with the support and companionship we need to navigate the ups and downs of life.

Friendship is a testament to the beauty of human connection. It goes beyond mere acquaintanceship and delves into the realm of deep understanding, trust, and shared experiences. A friend is someone who knows us for who we truly are and accepts us without judgment. They see our strengths, our weaknesses, and everything in between, yet choose to stand by our side through it all.

In a world that often feels divided, friendship unites us. It breaks down barriers, fosters empathy and compassion, and reminds us of our shared humanity. Through friendship, we learn to appreciate our differences, to celebrate diversity, and to embrace the richness that comes from engaging with people from various backgrounds and perspectives.

Friendship is a source of joy and laughter. It is in the company of friends that we find ourselves at ease, able to let go of our worries and simply enjoy the present moment. Whether it’s sharing a hearty laugh over a funny story, embarking on adventures together, or simply spending quality time in each other’s company, friends bring a sense of joy and lightheartedness to our lives.

But friendship is not just about the good times. It is during the challenging moments that the true strength of friendship shines through. Friends are there to offer support, lend a listening ear, and provide a shoulder to lean on. They offer words of encouragement, helping us find the courage to face our fears and overcome obstacles. In times of sadness or loss, friends offer solace and comfort, reminding us that we are not alone in our struggles.

To cultivate and nurture friendships, we must be willing to invest time and effort. It requires being present, actively listening, and showing genuine care and interest in the lives of our friends. It means being there for them in both good times and bad, celebrating their achievements and providing a source of strength during challenging times. Small gestures of kindness and thoughtfulness can go a long way in deepening the bonds of friendship.

In a world that is increasingly connected through technology, it is important to remember the value of face-to-face interactions and genuine human connection. Put down your phones, step away from the screens, and engage in meaningful conversations with the people around you. Take the time to truly listen, to understand, and to be present. In doing so, you will not only strengthen existing friendships but also create opportunities to form new connections.

In conclusion, let us cherish and honor the power of friendship. Let us celebrate the friends who have enriched our lives, and let us strive to be the kind of friend that we ourselves would like to have. May we continue to cultivate meaningful connections, to embrace the diversity of the human experience, and to uplift and support one another on our respective journeys.

Thank you for your attention, and may the bonds of friendship continue to inspire and illuminate our lives.

Friendship Speech Example #2

Today, I want to take a moment to reflect on one of life’s greatest treasures: friendship. Friendship is a beacon of light that guides us, a source of strength that uplifts us, and a tapestry of shared memories that weaves together the chapters of our lives.

Friendship is a gift that knows no boundaries. It transcends age, gender, race, and background. It is a connection that forms when two souls resonate with each other, when trust is built, and when hearts align. Whether it’s a childhood friend who has been by your side through thick and thin or a new acquaintance who has entered your life and quickly become an integral part of it, friendship has the power to transform and elevate our existence.

True friendship is based on a foundation of trust, respect, and authenticity. It is a safe haven where we can be our true selves, free from judgment or pretense. Our friends see us for who we are, flaws and all, and love us unconditionally. They provide a space where we can express our hopes, dreams, fears, and vulnerabilities without fear of rejection. In their presence, we can grow and evolve, knowing that we have their unwavering support.

Friendship is not just about the good times; it is also about weathering the storms together. It is during the challenging moments that the strength of friendship shines brightest. Friends offer a listening ear, a comforting embrace, and words of wisdom when life becomes overwhelming. They provide a fresh perspective, offering guidance and encouragement to help us navigate through difficult situations. With friends by our side, we are reminded that we are never alone in our struggles.

Friendship is a source of inspiration and personal growth. Friends challenge us to step outside of our comfort zones, to embrace new experiences, and to discover hidden talents and strengths within ourselves. They believe in our potential even when we doubt ourselves, pushing us to reach for the stars and achieve greatness. They celebrate our achievements with genuine joy, and their unwavering support fuels our drive to succeed.

In a fast-paced world where technology often replaces genuine human connection, it is important to prioritize and nurture our friendships. Take the time to reach out to your friends, to listen to their stories, and to create new memories together. Plan outings, organize gatherings, or simply have a cup of coffee and engage in meaningful conversations. Invest in the relationships that bring you joy and fulfillment, for they are the threads that enrich the fabric of your life.

In conclusion, let us celebrate the gift of friendship. Let us express gratitude for those special individuals who have touched our lives, who have shared our laughter and wiped away our tears. May we cherish and nurture these connections, for they are the foundation of love, support, and understanding. And as we continue our journey through life, may we always be open to new friendships, for each one has the potential to bring new meaning and joy to our lives.

Thank you for your attention, and may the bonds of friendship continue to grace our lives with love, laughter, and profound connections.

Friendship Speech Example #3

Today, I would like to speak about the extraordinary power of friendship—a bond that enriches our lives and shapes our very existence. Friendship is a testament to the beauty of human connection, a source of joy, and a pillar of strength in times of need.

At its core, friendship is a relationship built on mutual trust, respect, and shared experiences. It is a bond that transcends superficial differences and embraces the essence of who we are as individuals. True friends accept us for who we are, flaws and all, and support us on our journey of self-discovery and growth.

Friendship is a sanctuary where we find solace and comfort. It is a space where we can freely express our thoughts, emotions, and fears, knowing that our friends will listen without judgment. They offer a shoulder to lean on, a compassionate ear to hear our sorrows, and a kind heart to share our joys. In their presence, we feel seen, heard, and understood.

Friends are the companions who accompany us on life’s adventures. They are the ones who laugh with us, explore new horizons with us, and create memories that become the fabric of our stories. They bring lightness, laughter, and a sense of playfulness into our lives, reminding us to embrace the beauty of the present moment.

Friendship is also a catalyst for personal growth. Our friends inspire us to be the best versions of ourselves. They challenge us to step outside of our comfort zones, pursue our passions, and confront our fears. They provide honest feedback and constructive criticism, helping us recognize our blind spots and encouraging us to strive for continuous improvement.

In a world that can sometimes feel fragmented and isolated, friendship has the power to bridge divides. It fosters empathy, compassion, and understanding. Through our friendships, we gain exposure to different cultures, perspectives, and worldviews, broadening our horizons and enriching our lives. Friendship teaches us the value of acceptance, tolerance, and embracing diversity.

To cultivate and nurture friendships, we must be willing to invest time, effort, and genuine care. It requires active listening, empathy, and a willingness to be there for our friends in both good times and bad. We must celebrate their successes, support them through their challenges, and be a source of strength and encouragement when they need it most. Small gestures of kindness, such as a heartfelt message or a thoughtful gift, can go a long way in nurturing the bonds of friendship.

In conclusion, let us pause and celebrate the immense value of friendship. Let us express gratitude for the friends who have walked alongside us, bringing joy, support, and inspiration. May we continue to foster these connections, nurturing them with love and care. And as we move forward, may we embrace new friendships, extending our hearts and minds to create a world where friendship knows no boundaries.

Thank you for your attention, and may the spirit of friendship continue to illuminate our lives with love, laughter, and lasting connections.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, friendship is a powerful force that enriches our lives and shapes our very being. Crafting a memorable speech on friendship requires a deep understanding of its essence, purpose, and audience. By sharing personal experiences, utilizing emotional appeal, incorporating inspirational quotes, and offering practical advice, you can create a speech that resonates with your listeners and leaves a lasting impact. So, let us celebrate the beauty of friendship, honor those who have touched our lives, and continue to cultivate meaningful connections that will uplift and inspire us throughout our journey.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining me on this exploration of friendship through the art of speechwriting.

About Mr. Greg

Mr. Greg is an English teacher from Edinburgh, Scotland, currently based in Hong Kong. He has over 5 years teaching experience and recently completed his PGCE at the University of Essex Online. In 2013, he graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a BEng(Hons) in Computing, with a focus on social media.

Mr. Greg’s English Cloud was created in 2020 during the pandemic, aiming to provide students and parents with resources to help facilitate their learning at home.

Whatsapp: +85259609792

[email protected]

Speeches > Michalyn Steele > Choose to Trust the Lord

Choose to Trust the Lord

Michalyn steele.

Associate Professor of Law

June 25, 2019

My dear brothers and sisters, I am honored to speak to you today and to share my witness of the Savior and the good news of the gospel. I want to acknowledge that we are gathered in this valley that is the traditional homeland of indigenous peoples called today the Utes, the Paiutes, and the Shoshone nations, among others. I honor their resilience, and I am thankful for their preservation as peoples.

I believe that the Lord has preserved many essential truths by preserving the indigenous peoples and their cultures. Just as Joseph of old stored up grain against the time of famine to save the house of Israel, and just as the record of Lehi and his children was preserved against a time of spiritual famine, indigenous peoples and cultures hold truths to teach us in this age of political, moral, and ecological turbulence.

I am a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians from New York. I grew up in a small branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Cattaraugus Reservation. I am grateful for my inheritance as a Seneca, as well as for the strength of my pioneer ancestors. I receive many blessings that come to me through those who chose the path of discipleship. I acknowledge with gratitude those who came before, who showed the way, who prepared the ground for my faith to flourish, and who opened the doors for the opportunities that have been mine.

Similarly, I acknowledge that this campus is sacred ground. It has been set apart—consecrated—for our learning “by study and also by faith.” 1 In that spirit, I hope to share a message with you that might help you navigate the difficult days ahead and the many trials of your faith that will come as your lives unfold. We will each face the trials inherent to mortality—trials of physical frailty, mental illness, heartbreak, loss, political turmoil, and rampant injustice—and spiritual trials that will surely test our commitment to the Savior and His kingdom.

College is a time of tremendous growth, both intellectually and spiritually. We develop critical thinking skills and take in so much information. We wrestle before the Lord to develop and deepen our testimonies and flesh out our identities. In this age of abundant information and disinformation, how do we know where to turn as we refine our beliefs and mature our testimonies? And how do we respond as our faith passes through refining fires?

My message to you today is that, whatever your trials—mortal or spiritual—you can choose to trust in the Lord. While so much around you is inconstant and fleeting, He is faithful. He will never fail you. You may rely on His love as an unerring truth.

In the Midst of Fiery Trials

In difficult times, you may find yourself asking, as this hymn does:

Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace When other sources cease to make me whole? . . .

Where, when my aching grows, Where, when I languish, Where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only One. 2

My life experiences have taught me the truth of the hymn’s answer. The Lord is there to understand and to quiet our anguish. At many points I have seen the Lord’s hand moving miraculously to order and bless the circumstances of my life. He has prepared a path, opened doors, raised up friends, and multiplied joys in my life. I have seen how these blessings have been tailored specifically for me and fitted to my particular needs. Many blessings were set in motion long before my needs arose. So too has the adversary tailored opposition and trials to fit my weakness.

There have also been times when I have longed for the Lord’s intervention in specific ways, when I have petitioned and pleaded with the Lord for blessings that have not been realized. There have been questions that have gone unanswered and times when the heavens felt silent. In those moments the adversary has tried to whisper that no one has heard my prayers. I have prayed and fasted for many years that the promise of my patriarchal blessing and other priesthood blessings—that I would find a true companion and be a mother—might be fulfilled. Those blessings have not been realized for me on my preferred timeline, despite my most fervent petitioning. But it has not been because no one heard them. That was a lie from the adversary. My Father in Heaven has heard and answered every prayer, even when the answers have been difficult for me.

Of course I have had a rich, happy, and fulfilling life. The Lord has poured out abundant blessings—meted out with the “good measure” of the Lord, “pressed down” and “running over” 3 —far beyond my merits. But my life has not looked like the life I would have sought for myself.

In coping with the Lord’s counsel to wait or to do without, I have had to learn to choose to trust the Lord. I have had to choose to let these experiences refine and deepen my faith rather than yield to the temptation to despair in the Lord and abandon my hope and faith.

Everyone passes “through fiery trials.” 4 I know that many of you, though you may be young, are like the Savior, acquainted with grief. Many of you may be weighed down with your own sorrows, challenges, or disappointments. Some of you may be wrestling through questions concerning your faith. I know that the Savior is intimately acquainted with your grief and sees your sorrows. He has promised one day to wipe away all tears. And He will. But, in the meantime, during those moments of fiery trial, how do we choose to trust in the Lord—especially when we may, for a time, feel alone?

I hope that some of the lessons I am learning might be of some comfort to you now or in future times of need.

Like the blessings I have received, the challenges I have faced have been individualized, tailor-made to cultivate my strengths and to fortify my weaknesses. In walking my path, I have been given the opportunity to choose to love and obey the Lord, even when I have felt sometimes forsaken. I am learning that my faith in the Lord is not conditioned on getting what I want when I want it. Instead, I have worked to develop trust and love for the Lord that is not transactional but relational. I love Him for who He is. I trust Him and His love for me. He is my Creator and Savior.

I offer three principles that have helped me choose to trust the Lord in times of trial. I offer these principles humbly—knowing that you walk a path tailored for you—but also confidently, trusting in the constancy of the Lord.

Principle Number 1: The Seven Generations Principle

First, I offer one lesson from the Seneca tradition. It is an idea found in many indigenous cultures in some form. It is called the seven generations principle. 5 The seven generations principle in the Seneca culture means that we are obliged to consider the consequences and outcomes of our choices on the next seven generations. It is a cultural value that entrenches the practice of taking the long view where possible and acting in the interest of the long term rather than the short term. The seven generations principle challenges us to pause and contemplate how our choices, when multiplied and amplified through future generations, might affect our relationships with the Creator, with one another, and with the earth.

This principle means that we strive to keep an eye on the things of eternity, even—perhaps especially—in the midst of blinding mortal pain. How do we maintain that long view and choose to trust the Lord when the pain of our physical or spiritual trial is so acute and present, when the suffering is sore and stubborn?

When I say to keep an eye on the eternal in the midst of mortal pain, I mean that we should seek to keep our spiritual gaze fixed on the great eternal sacrifice, the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ. The adversary seeks to distract us by fixing our focus entirely on our temporal pain and by tempting us to dwell on perceived slights and injustices, obscuring the Lord’s love. This is one reason it is imperative that we partake of the sacrament each week, renewing our covenant to “always remember” 6 the Savior.

Just as He suffered, we will suffer as part of the mortal experience. In choosing to trust the Lord, we can consecrate our suffering to a greater understanding of His suffering and allow it to build in us a deeper capacity for compassion and mercy toward the suffering of others. Though He was perfect, He made Himself an offering of mercy to satisfy justice. Having drunk from that bitter cup, He knows how to succor and comfort us in our infirmities if we trust Him.

As Alma taught his son Helaman, “I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.” 7 Putting our trust in God does not spare us from trials, troubles, or affliction. Instead, God has promised to support us while we are in those mortal difficulties. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught of our trials, “Rather than simply passing through these things, they must pass through us and do so in ways which sanctify these experiences for our good.” 8 By taking the long view, as the Seneca culture counsels, and choosing to trust the Lord and His eternal timeline, we can pass through our trials and let the trials pass through us as we deepen—not abandon—our faith and our kindness.

Principle Number 2: “Seek Not to Counsel the Lord”

In addition to the seven generations principle of taking the long view, might I suggest a second principle that seems especially relevant to the successful navigation of our trials. I take this principle from Jacob’s plea to the wavering Nephites. He urged, “Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand.” 9

If you are like me, you are full of great ideas, hopes, and dreams about how your lives ought to go: the timing of change and the fulfillment of blessings, jobs or other experiences we might enjoy, or opportunities that we think would be a good fit and would help us to be happy. Indeed, we are commanded to ask the Lord for the desires of our hearts. With faith—and with fasting, when appropriate—we should plead with and petition the Lord for the experiences we desire.

That is a very different thing than seeking to counsel the Lord or resisting His counsel.

Seeking to counsel the Lord means to me that we adjudge our wisdom and preferences to be superior to the Lord’s. That reflects a fundamental lack of trust in His omniscience, in His omnipotence, and, more important, in His perfect love. We might suppose that if we could only persuade the Lord to do things our way, life would be much improved. We may feel frustrated by what we deem His resistance to our counsel on such matters.

Although I am now a law professor, in my heart of hearts and by experience and inclination, I am a civil rights lawyer. I loved working as an attorney enforcing the federal civil rights laws at the United States Department of Justice. I feel passionately about the rule of law and the pursuit of justice. I believe in the equal dignity of all God’s children. I mourn with those who mourn about the deep injustice that falls so disproportionately on people of color, on religious minorities, on our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters, on immigrants and refugees, and on others. I believe my love for the equal dignity of all God’s children is one of the spiritual gifts He has given me. But as much as I may love and seek after justice, I do not have anything to teach the Lord about justice. He does not need my counsel as an advocate about how to bless and provide for His children or about how to order His kingdom. He sees the end from the beginning, “and there is not anything save he knows it.” 10

One title for an attorney is “counselor.” It is a title I have held in various settings. In my roles as an attorney and as a law professor, I offer counsel to others that draws upon my study and professional judgment. It is meant to guide and protect those I serve. With the credentials of my education and experiences comes trust. Some attorneys earn thousands of dollars an hour for their counsel. (Not me, by the way. Despite how expensive law school feels to law students, I would much rather be here with you.) But as attorneys, we come to think that our counsel has tremendous value to help resolve problems and address challenges. And it can. This is true for all professionals.

You too, as educated individuals, are earning credentials and having experiences that are shaping and informing your judgment. Those credentials will give weight and amplification to your views in society and will add value to resolving the many varied problems—personal and professional—that you will face. Those of us who have responsibilities for your education are eager for you to develop sound critical thinking skills and judgment.

Whatever your field of study, I have no doubt that you will contribute your learning and good judgment to the inevitable and daunting challenges of your families, your employers, your communities, and your congregations. But no matter how learned we may become in whatever field, and no matter the earthly value of our counsel, we will never have knowledge or judgment that will exceed the Lord’s. That is why we should not seek to counsel the Lord but should seek to take counsel from His hand.

Jacob warned against seeking to counsel the Lord because of what he called the “cunning plan of the evil one” 11 specifically targeting those of us who have opportunities for learning. Jacob lamented:

O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.

But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God. 12

We must not allow the great gift and blessing of our learning and education to divide us from His wisdom. Instead, we must let our learning deepen our trust in Him and multiply the gifts we have to offer to Him and His children. I have learned that He does not need to be persuaded to do good things or advised about “how to give good gifts unto [His] children.” 13 While there are many settings in which He will draw upon our good judgment and learning to bless lives, we must remember that He does not need the best thinking of the wisest and brightest among us to augment His understanding. He already has all wisdom and all judgment.

I will add here a warning about another great temptation that we must guard against as those with the blessings of advanced education. Nephite society, including the Church, was stratified and destroyed because “there became a great inequality in all the land.” 14 What caused the inequality? In part it was because “the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning.” 15 The people who had money or who had “chances for learning” looked down on those who did not. Let us never misappropriate the blessing of our education as a cause to vaunt our knowledge over those who have not had the same opportunities we have had—and certainly not as a reason to vaunt our wisdom over the Lord’s. Rather, let us humbly consecrate our gifts to the Lord. Let us serve and love His children, no matter their circumstances and even when we do not understand the Lord’s purposes.

A long time ago, I was called as a missionary to the Texas Houston Mission. The call said that I should report to the MTC to prepare to teach the gospel in the English language. As my stake president set me apart as a missionary, I remember him saying these words: “The language the Lord would like you to learn is the language of the Spirit.”

I knew that to learn the vocabulary and grammar of the language of the Spirit, I would need to study the scriptures, identify promptings, and understand the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. I knew that it was a language I had been learning my whole life as my parents taught me to keep the commandments and to love the Lord. I had mentors and teachers who had modeled fluency in the language of the Spirit. “To take counsel from [the Lord’s] hand,” 16 as Jacob instructed, we must develop our own fluency in the language of the Spirit. To try to learn that language, I undertook a deep study of the Book of Mormon.

Once I had arrived at the MTC, I enjoyed learning the principles of missionary work, but I kept wondering how I might say certain phrases in Spanish. When that happened, I told myself to keep focused on the tasks at hand. But my mind kept wandering to the few Spanish phrases I knew, and I kept wondering about Spanish grammar and vocabulary.

I eventually recognized that these unbidden thoughts were the whisperings of the Spirit helping to prepare me to go to Houston, Texas, where there would be many people I would meet who would speak Spanish. So I went to the MTC bookstore and bought a copy of El Libro de Mormón and put it with my things, pleased that I had felt and recognized a prompting and sure that I would have the opportunity to share that book with someone as a missionary.

When I arrived in Houston a few weeks later, my mission president, Clark T. Thorstenson, pulled me aside at the airport. He said, “Sister Steele, the Lord has made it clear to me that He would like you to learn Spanish. I am assigning you to the Spanish-speaking program.”

I felt like the Lord had been trying to whisper it to me all along and was smiling, now that I was in on the plan too. That evening I wondered how I would ever learn Spanish, and I wished that I could go back to the MTC. Then I remembered my Libro de Mormón. I took it out and began to read. My study of the Book of Mormon in preparing for my mission helped me to follow along: “Yo, Nefi, nací de buenos padres.” 17 Buenos padres ? “Goodly parents”! 18

At first I had no other books to use to study the Spanish language except for the Book of Mormon. But I remembered the inspired counsel of my stake president: the language the Lord wanted me to learn was the language of the Spirit. I enlisted the Spirit—who, it turns out, speaks perfect Spanish—to magnify my abilities and to tutor me in both the Spanish language and the language of the Spirit. Those two languages would be crucial to my missionary service.

A few months in, I had a companion from El Salvador, Hermana Seravia. She was a great missionary and senior companion. One day she said to me, “Hermana, you are doing pretty good with Spanish, but you talk too much like a Book of Mormon! We don’t really say, ‘Now behold, we rejoice to be in your home.’”

I have reflected a lot in the years since this experience about the way that calling unfolded. I know that the Lord is omniscient. Surely He knew that the people I was called to teach in Houston spoke Spanish and that I did not know Spanish when my call had been issued months earlier.

So why did the Lord send me to Texas without MTC language training? At the time, if I were to have designed the experience for myself, I would have called me to learn Spanish in the MTC. However, although I have the power of choice and autonomy in many things, I am not the primary architect of my own life experiences. I am called to trust that the Lord has a plan for my life, just as I know that He has a plan for yours. Both the big picture and the smaller details are within His infinite and loving calculus.

As it worked out, the experience was tailored to draw upon my particular strengths and to fortify my particular weaknesses. The airport switcheroo meant that I could not lean upon my own capacities to learn Spanish as a purely intellectual exercise. I had to rely on the gifts and tutelage of the Spirit. I had to plead for the gift of tongues. I had to rely on the prayers of loved ones—the power of which I could feel bringing words and phrases to my mind and loosing my tongue as I taught. The Lord foresaw that Spanish would be a great blessing in my life but that learning to trust Him and rely on Him while learning the language of the Spirit was an even more important lesson.

Sometimes we are asked to submit to ongoing ambiguity or to a grueling lesson we would prefer not to learn. Such moments provide us with the opportunity to realize one of the purposes of our mortal experience: to choose to trust Him to bless us with the experiences that we need rather than the experiences we might want.

As we put our trust in the Lord and lean not on our own limited understanding of eternal things, the individualized path He has designed for each of His children will unfold. It is marvelous to contemplate that although He is the great God of the universe and the works of His hands are beyond our numbering, each of us is known and loved by Him. Indeed, we are “graven . . . upon the palms of [His] hands.” 19 To fulfill God’s purposes for our lives, we must learn to trust in His love and goodness, even in times when we feel alone—just as Jesus felt alone. It does not mean that we do not keenly feel the full weight of the pain of our trials—just as Jesus felt His mortal pain.

The Savior felt the hunger, thirst, fatigue, rejection, grief, pain, and loneliness of His mortal experiences. He even asked that the unimaginable weight of His burden of sorrow and pain be removed, if possible. Matthew recorded that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” 20 The scripture tells us that so great was His suffering that “he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” 21

The experience of Jesus in Gethsemane teaches me that it is not a sin to desire that we be spared some experiences or to ask that burdens be removed. The pain of those crossroads, in which our will and the Father’s will diverge, is profound. Nevertheless, Jesus modeled how such moments are best resolved: choosing, because of our love for the Father, to trust His will. We trust Him by receiving the Lord’s counsel rather than insisting that He take ours.

Principle Number 3: Love Abundantly

The third principle that I would urge you to adopt is to love abundantly. In most any situation we face, love really is the answer. We can trust that the will of the Lord is motivated entirely by perfect love. When we cannot understand the things that are happening—or the things that are not happening—the one true constant is the perfect love of God. You can trust it entirely.

Alma counseled the people of the Church to avoid contention and to have “their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” 22 I have found that my happiness is multiplied and my challenges are dulled when I have opened my heart to be knit in loving ties to friends, colleagues, and family. The Savior commanded us to love even our enemies and to do good to those who despitefully use us. 23 My life is not defined by the blessings I have not received but by the abundance of love and blessings that I have received.

My maternal grandmother, Norma Seneca, was a great example of expansive, abundant love. She lived her whole life on the Cattaraugus Reservation. Though her geographic frame of reference was limited, her understanding and wisdom were wide and deep. I especially admired her ability to take genuine, full-throated joy in the good things that happened to others. I loved telling her my good news because she was so thrilled when good things happened to me. She never begrudged others their successes. She rejoiced with those who rejoiced. It was the habit of a generous spirit who multiplied and expanded the happiness of her life, even in the many difficulties she endured.

It is not always easy to love. I have often called upon the wise counsel my mother gave me when I was relating to her some perceived injustice I had suffered. I insisted that my grievances were justified. Knowing she could not undo the injustice, my mother advised me to “throw a blanket of mercy” over the situation. In essence, she advised me to love, to forgive, and to show mercy even when I felt my demand for justice was valid. She urged me to let mercy pay the debt and satisfy my claims. This advice has saved me much anguish and provided me great relief when I have been able to heed it. Choosing to love is choosing to heal from the spiritual wounds inflicted by injustice and suffering.

One important way that we magnify our love to others and to the Lord is through the words that we speak. Many Native American creation stories describe the world’s creation as having been brought about because the Creator spoke it. Speaking is, in a way, giving birth to ideas and forming and shaping our reality. Similarly, in the creation account in Genesis, we understand that God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.” 24 One title for the Savior is “the Word.” 25

Our words are powerful beyond measure. Words have the power to create and heal, but they also have the power to destroy and wound. Let us speak with abundant love and use the power that is ours to heal and build others, just as the Savior uses His.

Most important, we should not place conditions or limits on the love that we offer to our Father in Heaven and His Son. But even when we have done so, having withheld love or obedience, He stands ever ready to receive and heal us. As often as we will repent, He will forgive. His arms are ever outstretched. We can trust His love.

So we ask: “Where can I turn for peace? . . . Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?” 26

Here is the reply: “He answers privately, Reaches my reaching In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. Constant he is and kind, Love without end.” 27

My brothers and sisters, I testify that He is constant and kind. He is worthy of our trust and adoration. That we may choose to trust in Him during times of doubt or difficulty is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

1. D&C 88:118 .

2. “Where Can I Turn for Peace?” Hymns, 2002, no. 129.

3. Luke 6:38 .

4. “How Firm a Foundation,” Hymns, 2002, no. 85; see also 1 Peter 4:12 .

5. See Arthur C. Parker, “The Constitution of the Five Nations or the Iroquois Book of the Great Law,” in Parker on the Iroquois: Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants; The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet; The Constitution of the Five Nations, ed. William N. Fenton (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1968), 37, article 24 of “The Council of the Great Peace.” See also Wikipedia, s.v. “seven generation sustainability,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_generation_sustainability.

6. Moroni 4:3 , 5:2 ; D&C 20:77, 79 .

7. Alma 36:3 .

8. Neal A. Maxwell, “ Enduring Well ,” Ensign, April 1997; see D&C 122:7 .

9. Jacob 4:10 .

10. 2 Nephi 9:20 .

11. 2 Nephi 9:28 .

12. 2 Nephi 9:28–29 .

13. Matthew 7:11 .

14. 3 Nephi 6:14 .

15. 3 Nephi 6:12 .

16. Jacob 4:10 .

17. 1 Nephi 1:1 (Spanish).

18. 1 Nephi 1:1 .

19. See 1 Nephi 21:16 ; Isaiah 49:16 .

20. Matthew 26:38 .

21. Matthew 26:39 .

22. Mosiah 18:21 .

23. See Matthew 5:44 .

24. Genesis 1:3 .

25. John 1:1 ; see also verse 2.

26. “Where Can I Turn for Peace?”

27. “Where Can I Turn for Peace?”

See the complete list of abbreviations here

Michalyn Steele, BYU associate professor of law, delivered this devotional address on June 25, 2019.

Collection: Overcoming Adversity

Podcast: Come, Follow Me

Podcast: Overcoming Adversity

Podcast: Recent Speeches

Related Speeches

The Weightier Matters of the Law

The Faith to Do His Will

Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

Author Interviews

Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

Support from 'indispensable' US vital for Ukraine's survival, Japan PM tells Congress

Medium Text

CHINA 'UNPRECEDENTED' CHALLENGE

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, David Brunnstrom and Ismail Shakil in Washington, John Geddie in Tokyo and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Don Durfee, Chizu Nomiyama and Josie Kao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Patricia Zengerle has reported from more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China. An award-winning Washington-based national security and foreign policy reporter who also has worked as an editor, Patricia has appeared on NPR, C-Span and other programs, spoken at the National Press Club and attended the Hoover Institution Media Roundtable. She is a recipient of the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence.

An excavator clears rubble after a suspected Israeli strike on Iran's consulate, in Damascus

World Chevron

IMF to provide Costa Rica with $510 mln disbursement, sees economy growing 4%

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it will disburse $510 million to Costa Rica following an evaluation mission to the Central American country, whose economy is seen growing by the international lender 4% this year.

Townhouses under construction in King City

Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday it had conducted a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile at the Kapustin Yar rocket launch complex in the southern Astrakhan region.

Car targeted by Israeli forces during a raid where they killed a Palestinian militant, near Tubas

IMAGES

50 Wise Sayings and Quotes about Trust
50 Wise Sayings and Quotes about Trust
50 Wise Sayings and Quotes about Trust
70+ Trust Messages and Inspirational Quotes
Top 140+ Trust Quotes To Increase Your Wisdom
45+ Inspirational Trust Quotes With Images

VIDEO

DON’T TRUST OR RESPECT THOSE WHO DO THESE 7 THINGS
Trust The Process
7 Things To Do Before 7 A.M🗿 #sigmarules #menquote #motivation #success #attitude #subscribe #viral
[Motivation] Trust Yourself, You Deserve It I Selena Gomez Speech
TRUST ON GOD
The Transformative Power of Trust: Finding Unshakeable Peace in God

COMMENTS

"The Anatomy of Trust" by Brené Brown speech transcript
Speech Transcript. Oh, it just feels like an incredible understatement to say how grateful I am to be here with all of you. I feel like I have a relationship with many of you on social media, and you were like, "T-minus two days.". I'm like, "It's coming! We're going to be together.".
Jennifer DeHayes: The Power of Trust
The "Power of Trust" by Dr. Jennifer DeHayes is an influential interpretation of trust three ways. The first is "deep down raw trust makes you stronger". She relates this view point of trust to a personal story in her life. The second is "in order to trust you need love". This is related to how in order to trust one needs love and the ability to be vulnerable. The third, "trust ...
Speech on Trust
When trust is present, it's easier to work together, share ideas, and build relationships. Without it, things can become difficult and confusing. 1-minute Speech on Trust. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today I want to talk about a magical word, 'Trust'. Trust is like a seed. When you plant it, it grows into a big, beautiful tree.
Anatomy of Trust (abridged)
Brené Brown breaks down trust into easy-to-remember parts using the acronym BRAVING, so that we can better understand what trust actually is, how we can buil...
Ideas about Trust
One of the most critical (and tricky) is trust -- and she explains how you can foster it. Posted Mar 2022. How to raise kids who will grow into secure, trustworthy adults. If kids don't feel trusted -- or if there isn't anyone close to them whom they can rely on -- they can really suffer. Esther Wojcicki, an educator and mother of three ...
The Anatomy of Trust
Moment of discomfort. "Goodbye." [laughter] Right? But honest, honest. So B, boundaries; R, reliability; A, huge, accountability. I can only trust you if when you make a mistake, you're willing to own it, apologize for it, and make amends. I can only trust you if when I make a mistake, I am allowed to own it, apologize, and make amends.
Brené Brown on What it Really Means to Trust
Brené Brown explains the complexity of trust—how it's gained, how it's lost, and why trusting ourselves is so important. Adobe Stock/treety. Trust is a big deal. When people gain our trust or break our trust, it matters. It's also a big word, packing a lot of weight. We say we trust people, or that someone has broken our trust.
Theodore Roosevelt and the Trusts
Overview of the Lesson. In this two-day lesson students will grapple with the benefits and problems of monopolies through a classroom simulation by looking at the desire of businessmen to create trusts and the harm they can cause society at large. By reading speeches given by Theodore Roosevelt, students will examine the respect he had for ...
BYU: Building a Community of Trust and Respect
BYU: Building a Community of Trust and Respect. BYU is a unique institution in all the world—a community of saint scholars, a community of saint students, an unparalleled community of academic and spiritual excellence that could only be possible as a result of the Restoration. My dear friends, today is a wonderful day to be alive.
To Win Over an Audience, Focus on Building Trust
We make a monumental mistake when we skip strategy and head straight for delivery. Instead, presenters should focus on building trust. The authors identified five competencies a leader can utilize ...
"In God We Trust"
On this silver dollar it says, "In God We Trust," and that is the theme that I would like to follow for my comments. In God we trust, and indeed we do. In fact, we must. Our salvation depends upon it. We trust Him even when we do not understand all of the things that may be happening about us or happening in our lives.
Talks about Trust
Renata Tonks Forste | July 29, 1997. Last week, on July 24, we honored the pioneers as we celebrated the 150th anniversary of their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. "It is now 1997, and the future is ahead," President Hinckley proclaimed last April in general conference. He noted that great things were expected of the pioneers and that ...
PDF Teddy Roosevelt's Speeches on Trusts
Teddy Roosevelt's Speeches on Trusts . Directions: Answer the following questions using Teddy Roosevelt's two speeches. Theodore Roosevelt: Controlling the Trusts Speech (1901) 1. What are some of the benefits or good aspects of business according to Roosevelt? 2. What does Roosevelt think about trusts? What should be done about them?
115 Trust Quotes to Help You Build Trust
Top 10 Trust Quotes. He who does not trust enough will not be trusted. Lao Tzu. The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. Ernest Hemingway. "Trust starts with truth and ends with truth.". - Santosh Kalwar. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Famous Speeches: A List of the Greatest Speeches of All-Time
Jeff Bezos, "Statement by Jeff Bezos to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary". Jeff Bezos, "What Matters More Than Your Talents". John C. Bogle, "Enough". Brené Brown, " The Anatomy of Trust ". John Cleese, "Creativity in Management". William Deresiewicz, "Solitude and Leadership". Richard Feynman, "Seeking New ...
30 Quotes About Trust That Will Make You Think
10. "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." --Ernest Hemingway. 11. "If you don't have trust inside your company, then you can't transfer it to your customers ...
A Short Speech on Importance of Trust
Speech on Importance of Trust. FindaSpeech 2020-10-15 Education, General. Trust is important and pivotal to any relationship that we may build; it is this trust in one another that forms the foundation of a really strong relationship and it is up to each and every one of us to help foster and develop this trust so that we can depend on each other.
Trust Essay
Short Essay on Trust 150 Words in English. Trust is the essential quality of the way we live our everyday life. Trust is a quality of being trustworthy; loyal; reliable. The base of any relationship, friendship, business, or organization is the trust between them. Trusting someone means to rely on someone completely.
On Trust and Leadership
Communication builds trust, cooperation, cohesion, and shared understanding.". In our doctrine manual on leadership, ADP 6-22: Army Leadership, "trust" is mentioned another thirteen times. "Trust, commitment, and competence," the manual states, "enable mission command and allow the freedom of action to be operationally agile and ...
The Illusion of Trust || Aizen's Words
"I always tell them not to trust anyone, including myself. But sadly, there are not many strong enough to do that." #Aizen//InfoThink about the words, learn ...
Speech Script: About Friendship
Speech Script: About Friendship. Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies and gentlemen! Today, I stand before you to explore the beautiful and transformative concept of friendship. Friendship is a bond that enriches our lives, brings us joy, and provides us with unwavering support. In this speech, we will delve into the essence of friendship and ...
Choose to Trust the Lord
We trust Him by receiving the Lord's counsel rather than insisting that He take ours. Principle Number 3: Love Abundantly. The third principle that I would urge you to adopt is to love abundantly. In most any situation we face, love really is the answer. We can trust that the will of the Lord is motivated entirely by perfect love.
1 Minute Speech on Trust
1 Minute Speech on Trust : The second place where trust is most needed is kinship. All relationships are based on trust. If we lose faith in a relationship then that relationship will not last long and it will end soon. Students should not let their parents and teachers lose faith in today's world. Parents work hard day and night to make ...
NPR responds after editor says it has 'lost America's trust' : NPR
NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Support from 'indispensable' US vital for Ukraine's survival, Japan PM
Ukraine risks collapsing under Russia's onslaught without U.S. support, a disaster that could embolden China and spark a new crisis in East Asia, Japan's prime minister told U.S. lawmakers on ...
A public sector four-day week will destroy the taxpayer's trust in Britain
A Welsh Government working group has said that one of the downsides of introducing a four-day working week was that it ran the risk of being racist.. The argument is that in the public sector some ...