The trust challenge

I recently had the opportunity to see the results of a study by the Inter-American Development Bank and came across a revealing finding: trust is the most pressing and yet the least addressed problem facing Latin America and the Caribbean.

As the report puts it: “Whether it is from others, government or business, trust in the region is lower than anywhere else in the world. The economic and political consequences of mistrust spread throughout society. Investment, entrepreneurship and employment flourish when business and government, workers and employers, banks and borrowers, as well as consumers and producers trust each other.”

More than stopping to analyze the causes of this reality, I would like to dedicate these lines to address the possible options that each of us have to reverse these results and be able to sow more confidence.

The first thing is to understand that we are energy and that if we cannot trust another it is because first we are not trusting ourselves.

However, mistrust stems from misinformation. When we do not know ourselves well enough, we will hardly be empowered enough to place our trust in others.

Next, we must understand that trust is essential for collaboration and innovation. If we do not trust the people around us, it is impossible for us to create anything new or unite for the same purpose.

Whether we are in the business or public sphere, it is necessary to reflect, since only transparency and the involvement of all of society as a whole will result in a turnaround in this crisis of confidence that affects us.

I agree with the IDB report that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel: “The good news is that governments can increase trust with clearer promises about what citizens can expect from them, with public sector reforms that allow them to fulfill their promises and with institutional changes that reinforce the commitments that citizens make with each other”.

As Facundo Cabral would once say: “If the crooks knew what good business it is to be honest, perhaps they would be honest, even if it was for business.” We work to be reliable.