How Trust Transcends Innovation, Leadership, and Creativity with Yoram Solomon
"Innovation opens the door to the market. Competitive advantage closes the door behind you and prevents your competitor from seeing what's happening."-Yoram Solomon
Who is Yoram Solomon?
Dr. Yoram Solomon is the author of the Book of Trust. He is also the host of The Trust Show podcast. Solomon has published fourteen books, has 22 patents, and more than 300 articles on Ink Magazine, Innovation, Excellence. He holds a PhD in Organization Management, an MBA, a Law degree as well as a degree in engineering. Solomon has founded several startup companies and has held various positions from General Manager of a $100 million dollar business unit in a Fortune 200 company, to being the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Innovation. He is an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Southern Methodist University. Solomon's company is Innovation Culture Institute.
Yoram Solomon can be found on his podcast, The Trust Show or via his website www.yoramsolomon.com.
What Led Solomon to Becoming a Leading Expert on Trust in Business?
"I don't like referring to myself as an expert, I am a trust researcher, '' says Solomon.
Solomon has spent decades working on innovation-"coming up with new solutions for old problems and new problems for new solutions," he says. This led him to the realization that his passion lay in helping companies through innovation.
He chose the topic for his PhD dissertation after lots of introspection. After speaking to his mentor. "At some point, he asked me a pivotal question that was silly. This was one of the most critical, pivotal questions in my professional life. He asked me, "Yoram, what pisses you off?" Solomon's response was "Why are people much more creative when they work in small startup companies than when they work in large, mature companies?—And he said, "I think we have a topic." Solomon spent years researching innovation culture all over the world. This is when Solomon discovered that everything came down to one simple factor-trust.
Why is Innovation Important in a Small Organization?
Differentiation
Innovation is what creates differentiation. According to Solomon, if you want to be successful as a new business, you cannot do the same thing that everybody else is doing, you have to do something different. Protect your innovation. "It's not enough to do something different,"says Solomon," you need to be able to protect your innovation, " says Solomon. According to Solomon, this is done through competitive advantage.
Competitive Advantage
There are different types of competitive advantage. "Innovation opens the door to the market. Competitive advantage closes the door behind you leaving your competitors in the dark," says Solomon.
What Can Entrepreneurs Do to Foster Creativity and Leadership in their Teams While Keeping a Focus on the Company's Mission?
"You don't get creativity when you don't have trust, you don't get good leadership if you don't have trust," says Solomon. Solomon did a survey and I asked people what is the most important quality for other people. "I found that the number one quality was trustworthiness," he says.
Leadership and Trust
" Leaders showed the least trust in this survey. When I asked leaders what is most important to them from their followers, only 39% said trustworthiness while 48% said willingness to work hard. It's more important for leaders that their employees are willing to work hard than their trustworthiness. This is what I call leadership failure today. What makes you a good leader is your willingness to trust your employees, and to show them that you're willing to trust them," says Solomon.
Creativity and Trust
According to Solomon, it's all about trust. To be creative, one of the strongest factors on innovation are team dynamics. Team dynamics really correlates to the ability to hold a constructive disagreement. This is where we can argue without it being personal. To be creative you need to be vulnerable- there is willingness to be vulnerable in high-trust environments than in low-trust environments.
"Trust is reciprocal. It's not only that if you are trustworthy, then I will trust you because you earn my trust. If I trust you, and I show you that I trust you, you will behave in a trustworthy way," says Solomon.
A Unifying Mission and Vision
"Have a mission statement that makes sense. A strong mission statement gets everybody to feel that they are on the same side. There must be true meaning in the mission. That's when you build trust in that team," says Solomon.
Trust and Earning More Revenue
"The bigger the consequences the more important trustworthiness is. A trustworthy entrepreneur can sell the same product in the same service for 29.6% higher price and still get the business. This is how important trust is, says Solomon.
How Does Trust Show Up Day-to-Day in a Small Business?
Yoram Solomon speaks about the components that make a person and entity a company trusted by others. They are broken into two groups.
Who are you?
- Competence-Are you competent in what you do?
- Personality Compatibility- You need to have personal compatibility. "You want to be trusted by those who you want to trust you," says Solomon.
- Symmetry- "An example of symmetry is having a strong mission statement that gets everybody to feel they're on the same side," says Solomon.
What do you do?
- Positivity- Are you positive when you interact? Are you honest and do you show empathy towards others?
- Time- How much time do you spend with your customer and your team?
- Intimacy- Choose face to face meetings, even if it is a Zoom call. Face-to-face interaction is very important in creating intimacy.
"Do not resort to sending text messages, email messages. These do not build intimacy and it does not build trust," advises Solomon.
Final Words of Wisdom from Yoram Solomon
"Trust takes a group of highly creative and productive individuals and turns them into a creative and productive team. You cannot do that without trust, says Solomon. He advises that individuals consider the answer to these questions- Can you be trusted? Do you trust others?
Closing Statement
Straight Talk CPAs is a CPA firm which provides growth minded businesses in North America with virtual CFO, accounting, tax planning and tax preparation services.
Amongst his many accomplishments Dr. Yoram Solomon is the author of the Book of Trust and the host of The Trust Show podcast.
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