With trust issues, you don’t start with a clean blank slate.

Trust thought for today - If you are looking to earn trust in your organisation of process, know that you don't start from a clean, blank slate. Totally obvious I know, but sometimes overlooked. Different aspects of our organisation also my have different trust profiles.

It struck me when adding to my interminable case study on the contribution of trust to the issues around the introduction GMOs.

For those old enough to remember, when companies started to promote GMOs they acted as if they were working from a position of neutral trust, in sales mode. But because of BSE (Mad Cow Disease), issues with chemicals and environmental disasters, concerns about food systems, pesticides and the business model of Big Ag, and the tech poster child Monsanto with their history of harms, many, particularly many NGOs, started from a position on my Trust Spectrum of Active, if not Passionate Distrust. In companies, and in the competence of governance & regulation in protecting people and the environment.

Was there enough scrutiny of the sources of the distrust, or just a focus on trying to tell people it was great? I love Kahneman's quote - "Don't try to persuade. Understand the source of resistance and address that."

This was taken on board later with the increasing high bar of strict regulation. Could anything have been done differently earlier? Work in progress on that!

The lesson. Know where you are starting from. Those looking at the current GM/GE governance regime, for me are not thinking about the trust aspects enough.