Saving Up Trust
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Square, noted how he had to fight to keep the Cash App project live for four years despite others in the company thinking it was a waste of time. He said this was one of the toughest challenges he’d experienced and one of the reasons it was possible was because of the amount of Trust (yes, with a capital T) he had saved up over the years of executing.
When he wanted to drive Square to take on this new challenge with the Cash App, he had to withdraw trust from the Trust Bank every time the project didn’t immediately show results. As the Cash App started showing promise, Dorsey noted how he started replenishing his Trust Bank so he could take on a new challenge in the future. This act of saving up Trusts from peers (whether they be family, friends, colleagues, managers, fans) reminds me of how one would save a part of one’s income for financial independence (i.e. wealth).
As most investing books will tout, the simple approach to saving is to pay the self x% every paycheque and invest it to compound wealth over time. Investing in what is dependent on the individual and I won’t cover it here. But the act of saving only bears fruit when it is applied consistently and it’s a small thing that pays fat dividends after a few decades. Such is the same for work ethic, probably why early career hiring decisions are made based on school grades and/or extracurriculars.
I’ve often heard from friends that they wished they didn’t study so hard because grades ceased to play a role in the real world as resided in it longer and longer. It’s true that when one applied for their first few jobs, recruiters looked at grades to decide whether they would trust you with the job. The assumed effort put into studying for great grades earned the trust to at least get an interview. Whether it was grades, extracurricular activities like athletics or clubs, or even starting projects that could become businesses, all of it requires consistently showing up over and over again.
What I’ve learned over time is that these don’t go unnoticed by people around you. The top marks you achieved in school might not matter anymore to you starting an entrepreneurial journey but it will matter in you earning the trust of your parents. Most parents, at least in my experience, will lose their minds if their child says they are going to quit some top-paying job to go on a crusade with their ideas. I’ve also found that those who have supportive parents earn it in part due to the trust they’ve built by showing up over time in other endeavours. This could also be the case in the trust of friends to help you out in your time of need. They will remember the kind of person you are and the work ethic you have. All of it was trust that was deposited in your Trust Bank.
"80 percent of success is just showing up" —Woody Allen
Some say 90% of success is showing up and some say it’s 99%. The number doesn’t matter, only that showing up is what counts. This isn’t only because one improves one’s craft through practice and that requires showing up. It’s also because we don’t achieve anything worthwhile alone and the support….the trust….from others come from showing up consistently.