Trust Rules: How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in Work and Life - Hardcover

"Stroh, a business professor at Loyola University in Chicago, offers a primer on trust in the workplace, based on interviews with more than 300 peoplefrom manufacturing-line workers to the CEOs of major multinationals from Mattel to Gillettewho give their views on whom you can trust at work, whom you can't, and why. One suggestion: Don't use your gut when evaluating people. Rather, Stroh recommends using a multipoint mental checklist such as taking note when someone tactfully tells you that you've made a big mistake. You can't trust sycophants." - U.S.News & World Report "Stroh (business, Loyola University) argues that trust is a prerequisite for effective management, and that it contributes directly to personal success. To find out how to tell the 'good guys' from the 'bad guys,' she interviewed about 300 people, resulting in a compendium of lively stories, lessons learned in the trenches, principles, and practical tools. Integrating insights from management and psychology, she shows how to pay attention to red flags in relationships and develop a network of trustworthy people who will help readers succeed in business and in their personal lives." - Reference and Research Book News "Having interviewed 300-plus people on the topic of trust, Stroh....[h]ere compiles guidelines and tools to develop more accurate perceptions. She offers definitions of and rules for assessing trustworthiness as well as examples of trustworthy people in the dating, business, and everyday spheres. She also presents chapters on betrayal, second chances, reconciliation, and coping mechanisms. Interestingly, she includes a chapter on trusting oneself (e.g., to diet, be more patient, quit an affair). For a topic so integral to everyday life, trust is rarely so thoroughly explored as it is here. Recommended for all libraries." - Library Journal "Stroh (business, Loyola Univ., Chicago) has written a very interesting book about how to determine the trustworthiness of colleagues in the workplace, as well as personal acquaintances. Trustworthiness is an important component of successful business relationships today, and this book considers a key component of organizational behavior in a unique, effective manner. The author addresses the common problems of trusting the wrong people and suffering the consequences. She also discusses how to determine who is trustworthy and what to do with people who are not, as well as how to assess relationships to see how they have evolved over time. The book includes a Trust Rules Questionnaire that serves as an evaluation tool for determining the trustworthiness of confidants. Stroh suggests that people periodically reassess their relationships with those they trust, to assess current situations. She includes important information from a variety of successful business practitioners regarding their wisdom and evaluation of what it means to be trustworthy in the business world. Her methodology includes surveys and personal interviews with hundreds of business practitioners, and her outcomes are useful for evaluative purposes. Recommended. General readers; students, upper-division undergraduate and up; and practitioners." - Choice

Whom can you trust? It's not an easy question to answer, yet it couldn't be more important to try. Hook up with the wrong crowd, and there goes a career-or worse. As scholar Linda Stroh argues, trust is a prerequisite for effective management, and it contributes directly to personal success. To find out how to tell the good guys from the bad guys, Stroh interviewed over three hundred businesspeople. The result is a thorough and invaluable compendium of lively stories, lessons learned in the trenches, and practical tools and principles. Readers will learn how to identify the trustworthy at work and in their personal lives-giving their careers a boost and helping them sleep better at night. That's because having trustworthy people around us makes organizational life much easier and less stressful. Yet, since ancient times, people have pondered the issue of trust. How do we decide who to let into our inner circle? To what degree do trusting relationships impact our performance at work? What are the consequences of misplaced trust? Must trust be unconditional? Taking these questions out of the realm of the philosophers, Linda Stroh draws from her extensive research to highlight common themes and the hard-won lessons learned from experience. She then distills their thoughts and experiences into practical tools and techniques for assessing trustworthiness-including your own-and applying these tools in a variety of situations. Integrating insights from management and psychology, Stroh shows readers how to pay attention to red flags in relationships and ultimately develop a network of trustworthy people that will help them succeed in business and beyond. Combining rigorous primary research with practical application, and using engaging stories and insights throughout, this book will help general readers, professors and students, and professionals alike attain their goals more quickly and with greater satisfaction.