Summary: The Speed of Trust Stephen M. Covey

This work offers a summary of the book “THE SPEED OF TRUST: The One Thing That Changes Everything” by Stephen M. Covey.

Stephen M. Covey is CEO of CoveyLink Worldwide, a learning and consulting practice. He is the son of Stephen R. Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen M. Covey is a highly accomplished keynote speaker and advisor on trust, leadership, ethics and high performance.

Trust is not something which is merely “nicetohave”. Rather, trust is a hardnosed business asset which can deliver quantifiable economic value. For that and other sound reasons, it makes good financial sense to consistently find ways to enhance trust levels both within and external to your business organization.

According to Stephen M. Covey, you need a workable mental model to build and enhance trust. Visualize trust as being like the “ripple effect” which occurs when a drop falls into a pool of water. That drop will generate a number of concentric waves. In The Speed of Trust, the author describes five waves, each of which represents a context in which trust is established.

The Speed of Trust is a valuable book which provides many practical examples of how greater trust produces better results.