Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Paul J. Zak

Trust Factor

The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies

HarperCollins Leadership, 2017

15 min read

11 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Paul J. Zak explains how to build a high-performance business based on soft management and hard science.

1×

Editorial Rating

Qualities

Applicable
Concrete Examples
Inspiring

Recommendation

While some leaders might decry “softer” management theories, neuroscience proves that treating your staff members like adult human beings and trusted colleagues pays off. In this engaging and accessible read, neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak shows how creating a “culture of trust” can turn around organizations that might be bound for failure. Based on findings from numerous scientific experiments, Zak examines trust, suggests eight areas to focus on, and outlines practical and manageable steps to bolster workplace bonds and employees’ effectiveness.

Summary

Improving trust in your organization increases performance, productivity and talent retention.

Every organization has a culture, whether it’s created intentionally or not, and that culture directs how people will behave. Successful organizations create cultures that are conducive to intrinsic motivation, high performance and cooperation. Trust is the pivotal ingredient in such a culture.

To experiment with the policy changes that build a trusting environment, define what you want to measure and how. Explain to your staff members the changes you’re making and what you hope these changes will achieve. Implement the changes and, after a period of time, measure the results. If a change proves effective, keep it and move on to the next experiment. If not, dismiss it – and move on to the next experiment.

To build a trusting corporate culture, follow policies listed according to the acronym “OXYTOCIN” – the hormone that trust releases.

If people show they trust you, your brain releases the neurochemical oxytocin, which increases empathy. That supports both the willingness to cooperate and the ability to ...

About the Author

Paul J. Zak is a professor of economics, psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University, California, where he founded the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, a research laboratory that studies how people make decisions.

Comment on this summary

More on this topic

In our Journal

8 months ago

Journal Article

1. Trust: Why?

If you can’t rely on anything, you get nothing done. Trust is the basis of every successful collaboration, at the desk, in high-stakes sales talks and in everyday interaction. Always and everywhere, a test of trust takes place before we tackle something together with others, before a product or service is purchased, or before one […]

2 years ago

Journal Article

Dopamine: the Good, the Bad and the Useful

Make this powerful brain chemical work for instead of against you. Dopamine is one of the most hyped yet misunderstood brain chemicals. For a long time, it has been dubbed the “pleasure chemical” – yet research has shown that dopamine’s role is not to give you pleasure but to make you chase it. If you […]

2 years ago

Journal Article

Improve Company Culture by Instilling a Learning Mindset

Workplace learning creates not just a better-informed but a better-connected workforce. “Learning powers culture” – this is one of the takeaways from LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report. New skills are crucial, but the concept of learning encompasses much more. Learning is about developing a mindset of being curious, of seeing challenges as opportunities and of […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

“Here’s Looking at You, Kid”

The latest research shows that if you look a robot in the “eye,” you will display similar reactions as when you look a human in the eye. But trust does not develop in this way. Everyone knows the situation: You arrive at your booked hotel room, look in the bathroom and discover that someone has […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

People Will Only Leave Their Comfort Zone from a Safe Place

You don’t want your team to “play it safe.” You want people to feel safe to play – as in pitching their ideas, performing to their potential and challenging the status quo. Companies navigating a rapidly changing environment depend on an agile, innovative workforce. But team members won’t volunteer their ideas, challenge outdated work processes […]

3 years ago