Are you earning trust or burning trust?

The other day I connected two online friends who want to discuss a potential business deal. Before I connected them, each knew nothing of the other.

If their meeting goes sour, I will have burned trust that I spent years building.

I think this is a risk that everyone takes in a connection economy. Although it can takes years to build trust, it only takes one bad exchange to burn it.

But everything we do online carries a risk. Every action either earns or burns trust.  The alternative is to do nothing, which is the biggest risk of all. All we can do is to take the risk, be as transparent and generous as possible and work for the long term.

As Seth Godin says:
(This is) ...the analysis that informs the connection economy--is it worth interrupting this person? Is my next action going to build a relationship or take from it? Am I earning trust or burning trust?
In the connection economy, we reward art and innovation and things worth talking about. We seek out transparency and generosity and the long-term. Sure, there are still people who will profit in the short-run by burning the assets they've got, but as we get ever more connected, that's just not going to scale.  read more...