Frank Sonnenberg, a marketing strategist, has written four books and published over 300 articles. He has appeared on CNN as “a nationally recognized expert in the field of marketing,” and served as the National Director of Marketing for Ernst & Young’s Management Consulting Group for over a decade. In his above titled article, Mr. Sonnenberg, makes the following comments regarding the quality of trust in past generations:
"The trust deficit is a sea change from the time when a person’s word was his bond, when employees worked for one company until they retired, when business deals were made on the basis of “I know your father” or “We’ve worked with your company before.” These were all ways of saying we recognize your values, understand how much your reputation means to you, and know how you conduct business. These values resulted in increased business, stronger customer loyalty, better employee morale, reduced turnover, and higher profit margins."
Mr. Sonnenberg continues by providing a practical illustration and applications of trust:
“Trust is like love in a marriage: it bonds people together and makes them strong and effective. Trust in a relationship increases security, reduces inhibitions and defensiveness, and frees people to share feelings and dreams. Trust empowers you to put your deepest fears in the palms of your colleagues’ hands, knowing that they will be treated with care. Trust enables you to be yourself and maintain your own values without worrying about acceptance. Trust makes colleagues willing to spend time together and make sacrifices for one another. Trust is an expression of faith that makes it easy for colleagues to have confidence in one another’s ability to perform well and to know that they will be there if needed. Trust means that promises made will be kept, and it also means that if a promise is not kept, it was probably for good cause. And finally, trust means that a relationship will last not because it is good business, but because the relationship itself is valued.”
The apostle Paul told the Thessalonian brethren that he, along with the other apostles, had been “entrusted with the gospel” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). Paul told Timothy, to “Guard what was committed to your trust” (1 Timothy 6:20). As members of the Lord’s body, the church (Ephesians 1:22-23), can we be “trusted” to preach and teach the “whole counsel” of God with regard to the gospel, as Paul said that he did? (Acts 20:24,27).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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