The Richly or Poorly Show
Show Transcript
shdawson-20260414.mp3
Episode 04/14/2026
04/14/2026
Hello! Welcome to The Richly or Poorly Show!
My name is Dr. Stephen Dawson, and I am your show host.
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The show's motto is unmistakable: RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Please consider how you define the term good as we journey through life together in your pursuit of defining the term richly in your life.
The plan for my presentations to you was to first establish a foundation of shared understanding between you, the listener, and me. Then, proceed to build on that foundation with subsequent episodes. I recommend that you review the nine episodes between December 2nd, 2025, through January 27th, 2026, as you see fit to help you remember the foundation of our shared understanding as we proceed through each episode you hear in the coming weeks, months, and years.
Last week, I presented on the subject of teams. I addressed the first step to form a team. The intended outcome is for you, as a listener in my intended audience, to have the ability to multiply your efforts to live your life more richly and less poorly through your team. Please note, the plan is to have more than one team at a time in your life, with each team focused on advancing a part of your life so you can live your life more richly.
Today, I will present on the topic of trust. Trust must always exist between all team members for the team to achieve success in accomplishing the reason the team exists. The topic of trust is one of the most painful topics I have encountered in my life. Addressing the topic of trust responsibly means that I will address it in today's episode.
The term trust is a singular term. It is a noun. A noun states an attribute of a person, place, thing, or idea. Trust is the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, or surety of either a person or thing.
The term trusting is a singular term. It is an adjective. An adjective is a term that describes a noun. Trusting is the amount of inclination to trust.
There is no such thing as 100% trust in any form of any person or thing. The statement I TRUST YOU is nonsensical. It does not state how much trust was placed in either person or a thing. Neither does it state why the trust exists.
Now, considering trust among team members. I said last week that the first step to forming your team is to Determine Duration. Consider the end result you have for your team's purpose. This result means your team no longer needs to exist. It is the amount of time from the second you begin to form your team to the second after your team has accomplished its purpose that comprises the duration of your team's existence.
We are now faced with the requirement to determine HOW LONG we can trust a member of our team. Recall, the definition of trust addresses either a person or a thing. So, we must determine how long we can trust not only the people on our team but also the intangible aspects of our team. Things such as...the data in our data lifecycle.
If anyone you are considering as a member of your team is known to have lied to either you or anyone else, then you have invalid data coming from them.
If anyone you are considering as a member of your team is known to have lied to either you or anyone else, then do you really want them to be a part of your life?
The same decision process applies to any aspect of the data you must use for your team. Invalid data is the same as a lie.
So, let's look at some examples of trust among team members.
Say you need someone to help you with a personal matter. Personal is not professional. You must decide if the person can handle the confidentiality of ALL the material you share with them. It is only fair that you inform them of your confidentiality requirements AND gain their agreement BEFORE you tell them ANY of your confidential material.
Then, you proceed to inform them of your confidential material. You have now placed your trust in their choices to maintain the confidentiality of your material. Does this confidentiality only last as long as they are a member of your team, or longer? Both you and your proposed team member must agree to a confidentiality period BEFORE you share your confidential material with them.
Then, you live your life wondering HOW they will maintain the confidentiality of the material you have entrusted to them. What will they think? How will they speak? How will they act? You cannot monitor all of their behaviors, as trust means you will not be around them ALL the time.
Say you need to end the involvement of either the person or thing on your team earlier than expected. The thing may come from a company you paid to supply you something. It is your team, so you call the shots. Will the person or thing become upset with you because you ended their involvement in your team earlier than expected? You will know, one way or another. Are you prepared for them to violate their commitment to you by not maintaining the confidentiality of the material you entrusted to them?
Now, take all I have just shared with you and multiply it by the total number of people and things on your team. It can be staggering to consider the impact of such an extension of you by placing your trust in a person or thing.
It may seem easier to simply do the work of your project for yourself and not risk trust. There is nothing wrong with doing all things for yourself, based on what I hold for my worldview. I have decided that all things in my life are NOT a matter of absolute privacy. So, the simplest thing I have found to do is to evaluate continually what I call private information and leave all the rest as information I am fine with having known to the public.
This continuous evaluation activity helps to order my work efforts. If I have to do anything, then the anything item is of high importance to me. If I am fine with someone else doing it, then it is of lesser importance to me. Say I need the oil changed in my car. I can do the work, but I prefer to have someone do the work for me. There are many different service providers I trust to do the work. I choose one who has the least overall cost for me, and I pay them to change the oil in my car. Their role on my team is as a service provider.
I use many types of service providers both personally and professionally. I calculate it is cost-effective for me to pay a service provider to do something for me when I can use the rest of the time to do something else, such as billable work, invest, or recover when I am tired and need rest. I have overworked myself into poor health more than once. I have learned I must pace myself to be able to keep delivering on my commitments to others. So, I have many small teams of many different types of service providers.
Now, let's take this to a much larger consideration. The people of Iran lost trust in their government recently. They protested for a few months. The Iranian government fought and killed many protesters. Then, different nations attacked Iran when Iran decided to use nuclear weapons to accomplish their objectives.
The existing government of Iran is in a state of being now where it needs external help to continue as a government. If I were the existing government of Iran, and I were unwilling to modify either my worldview, my ethics, or my morality, then I would call up the government of Russia and offer the country of Iran to become a part of the country of Russia. Then, the fighting with countries and the people of Iran would most likely stop. It is a matter of survival for Iran's existing government.
I doubt that any nation other than either Iran or Russia would like this option to occur, but it is an option that requires trust to exist between the governments of Iran and Russia. I also doubt that Iran becoming a part of Russia would go well for either Iran or Russia, but it is a way to get a service provider, in this case, Russia, to help Iran with its project of existing as a nation with its existing government.
So, are you convinced you need teams in your life? Are you convinced there are more reasons to have a team helping you than to not have any team helping you? How about this topic of trust? How do you decide who and what you can trust?
I share publicly, without shame, that I did not do well with my selection of team members in my younger days. I failed to choose both people and things because I wanted the help of a person or thing for several reasons. I paid for my poor choices dearly in both embarrassment and monetary losses. I learned that I must evaluate each person and each thing before I ask either a person or thing to be a part of my life in the form of a team member.
My poor choices formed no excuse for anyone who violated their trust with me. A part of me forgives them for my placing them in a position where their trustworthiness could never deliver the necessary trust. The rest of me lives with the pain of being violated by a person who chose to harm me by not doing what they said they would do in our agreement.
I leave you today with the strong assertion that having teams is better than not having teams, and that there is no team that can operate without the necessary forms of trust existing between all team members at all times for the team to achieve success in accomplishing the reason the team exists. Deciding HOW LONG that trust exists is the question. I may not care years later when something confidential earlier is known today. I come to such decisions based on the overall impact of the confidential material no longer being confidential. How about you? However, I would care that a person who committed their trust to me chose to violate the trust, regardless of the topic they violated, in maintaining the confidentiality of my material. How about you?
I leave you with this thought. If embarrassment is your primary decision criterion, then expect to live a lonely life. If you can handle some forms of embarrassment, then expect to have a less lonely life. If you can handle all forms of embarrassment, then you do not care about yourself. So, I suggest you find the balance you need in your life regarding embarrassment when you decide how you extend trust.
Well, that's it for today.
RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Thank you for joining me for this episode of The Richly or Poorly Show!
I have enjoyed presenting to you today.
Until the next episode, I hope you will be safe and join me next week.
Until then.
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