Category 1: Trust Edge Leadership Institute Brand Mission

• The Trust Edge mission is to develop trusted leaders and organizations.

Category 2: The Trust Edge Tenets

These are the 4 Tenets of our brand voice. Each Tenet has bullet points that we use to define the tenet. We strive for all of these tenets and their bullet points to be utilized within the new content that is developed for our organization. These should be viewed as themes throughout everything that we do, it is not required to use these specific words as a part of any piece of content.

Tenet 1- Practical

• Results-oriented
• Applicable
• Problem-solving
• Actionable
• Simple
• Clear
• Usable
• Scalable
• Touchless (but still human)

Tenet 2: Premium

• Authoritative
• Expert
• Innovative
• Fresh
• Professional
• Classy
• Excellent
• Valuable
• Beautiful

Tenet 3: Personal

• Dynamic
• Energetic
• Engaging
• Consistent
• Dependable
• Confident
• Funny
• Direct

Tenet 4: Positive

• Honest
• Positive
• Encouraging
• Grateful
• Hopeful
• Aspirational

Category 3:  What makes Trust Edge Leadership Institute unique?

Throughout our 20 years of research and on-the-job experience working with Fortune 50 companies as well as schools, governments, individuals and more, these are the keywords and descriptions that describe the uniqueness of Trust Edge. Again, these keywords and descriptions should be kept in mind as we begin creating content, but they don’t need to be used directly

Keywords & Descriptions that make us unique in the leadership space:

• UNIVERSAL The topic of trust is universally and holistically applicable. It matters to personal life and work.
• ORIGINAL We were the first ones talking about trust. We’ve been talking about it for 20 years.
• RESEARCH BASED Unlike programs built on anecdotes and personal experience, our model was built and continues to be refined by rigorous and repeatable research.
• SPECIFIC The Trust Edge brand delivers measurable outcomes and solutions, rooted in specific actions, not vague best practices
• ASPIRATIONAL The Trust Edge brand is based in real stories of guiding real customers to significant changes and renewed hope, not quips and platitudes
• CONSISTENT From sales to training to events to collateral the Trust Edge experience builds trust. We’re the same on-stage as we are off-stage.
• CREDIBLY SIMPLE Trust Edge delivers simplicity, credibly and honesty. We avoid jargon and acknowledge nuance and complexity while working to keep content approachable
• RELATIONAL Trust Edge is about relationships, not quick fixes. We’re committed to long-term change.
• EFFECTIVE Our approach works. It takes longer but it’s more effective. We admit both.
• RIGHT SIZED We’re big enough to make an impact but small enough to be personal.

Category 4: Quotes from DAVID HORSAGER that WE FREQUENTLY USE:

• Without trust, there is no capacity for a healthy relationship.
• Your biggest risk is losing trust.
• Building trust is work.
• Risk takes courage.
• The foundation of engagement is always trust.
• People trust the clear and distrust the ambiguous.
• People put faith in those who care beyond themselves.
• People notice those who do what is right over what is easy.
• People have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant, and capable.
• People believe in those who stand through adversity.
• People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends.
• People respond to results.
• People love to see the little things done consistently.
• Trust, not money, is the currency of business and life.
• Trust is the world’s most valuable resource.
• Trust is a requirement for strong friendships, families, and organizations.
• Trust is not a soft skill.
• Everything of value is built on trust, from great financial systems to great relationships.
• Trust multiplies influence and impact.
• Trust is a confident belief in a person, product, or organization.
• The trust edge is the competitive advantage gained when others confidently believe in you.
• Trust is like a forest – a long time growing, but easily burned down with a touch of carelessness.
• A lack of trust is your biggest expense.
• Without trust, there cannot be economic activity.
• The biggest deceiver is the one who appears trustworthy, when in fact, he is not.
• Trust is always a risk.
• Gaining trust takes work.
• A clear vision unifies and motivates.
• If you are not sharing your vision at least every two weeks, your team doesn’t know it.
• The key to conflict is not avoiding it.
• Conflict is inevitable. The key is how it’s dealt with.
• Increasing retention is key to boosting the bottom line.
• The best way to show that you care is to really listen to people.
• Bad listening habits aren’t just rude; they are expensive.
• The key to appreciation is sincerity.
• The ability to genuinely care for others and think beyond yourself is a solid – not soft –component of trust.
• When customers recognize that they’re truly cared for, they show their satisfaction by buying and referring again and again.
• Without character, there is no trust. Without trust, there are no followers. Without followers, leadership does not exist.
• Integrity is being consistent in thoughts, words, and actions.
• Doing the right things when no one is looking creates the habits for when people are watching you.
• We must think about our pattern of thoughts because all actions start as thoughts.
• Good input leads to good output.
• Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you feel like it or not.
• Anonymity dilutes accountability.
• Humility is the first step to ability.
• Leaders constantly learn and grow. Blamers think they already know.
• Unless you humble yourself to new ideas, you will become stagnant.
• If we lack trust in ourselves, then it is harder for us to trust others.
• Life is better as a team sport.
• Rests are essential for beautiful music and also for great ideas.
• Sacrifice is the commonality of great leaders.
• Great leadership demands sacrifice.
• Deflecting blame kills trust.
• Great leaders take responsibility.
• In every interaction we increase or decrease trust.
• People want to deal with those who are real and genuine.
• Good companies are built on good people and good relationships.
• Doing, not saying, builds trust.
• It is the little things, done consistently, that make the biggest difference.
• Consistency is the only way to build a brand or reputation.
• The fastest way to build a brand is consistency of message and product.
• You will never get one big chance to be trusted in your life; you will get thousands of small ones.
• The only way to build trust in yourself is to make and keep commitments to yourself.
• Trust increases or decreases with every interaction.
• Just one inconsistency can change people’s perspective.
• Opportunities will open for those who are consistent.
• It is not so bad to be lied to. The bigger problem is my loss of ability to believe in you.
• What is expected of people will often be what they aspire to.
• You’ve got to have people who believe in you.
• Trust is the greatest motivator.
• Where there is a lack of trust, everything costs more, takes more time, and creates more hassle.
• If you respect people, they step up.
• Trust enables risk. Risk sparks innovation. Innovation increases output.
• Every time people make a commitment to themselves and break it, they lose trust in themselves.
• Your ability to trust yourself directly affects your ability to trust others.
• Only when promises are kept can trust be rebuilt.
• To trust yourself and build or rebuild trust with others, you must make and keep promises.

• Relationship trust is strong. Brand trust is weak.

Category 5: The 8-Pillar Framework created by David Horsager and Trust Edge Leadership Institute
These 8-Pillars should be utilized in almost every piece of content that we put out. These are the 8 funnels of research that all drive towards trust being the root cause of every business and life issue.

1. CLARITY: People trust the clear and mistrust the ambiguous. Clarity unifies, motivates, increases morale, and inspires trust. Clear communication leads to trusted colleagues, happy employees, and satisfied customers.

2. COMPASSION: People put faith in those who care beyond themselves. Caring leads to trust. Think beyond yourself and put people before things to improve relationships.

3. CHARACTER: People notice those who do what is right over what is easy. Building integrity takes work but gives the biggest reward. Always ask yourself, “Is this the right thing?”

4. COMPETENCY: People have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant, and capable. Stretch your mind with new ideas, fresh thoughts, and different perspectives. Find a circle of professionals with whom you can grow and find a mentor who is successful or wise in the same ways you would like to be.

5. COMMITMENT: People believe in those who stand through adversity. History’s leaders who have made the biggest impact were willing to sacrifice for the greater good. In this instance, actions definitely speak louder than words.

6. CONNECTION: People want to follow, buy from, and be around those who are willing to connect and collaborate. Ask questions, not only of your employees but your customers, and be sure to listen to attentively to their answers.

7. CONTRIBUTION: People immediately respond to results. Give your attention, resources, time, opportunity, and talent. Ultimately, you must deliver results in order to be trusted.

8. CONSISTENCY: People love to see the little things done consistently. The track record of trust is built over time; there is no other way to lasting success. Deliver the same quality of results every time, and you will maintain trust.

Category 6: Our Tone, Style & Written examples of the style

Keep in mind the following as you continue to the examples:

• Writing Style- concise, practical, easy to understand, full of value, positive, and energetic.
• Writing tone- direct but warm, honest but kind, and confident but not prideful. We never want to come across as defensive. We have done copious research and are confident and proud of our team’s work.
• The Trust Edge brand is bold. We want to stand out in a crowd and stand behind our work in the 8-pillars firmly and authoritatively

Examples of what our voice looks like:

Sample A: This sample comes from the Trust Outlook – our annual research magazine that allows us to stay credible, relevant and research-based

• AN ADDITIONAL WAY TO TAKE CARE OF EMPLOYEES is to provide training opportunities. 78% of people around the globe say that more frequent training would help them trust their employer more. More specifically, two-thirds of Americans want to be trained in people skills over technical skills. Give opportunities for leadership development or EQ skills workshops across all levels of your organization. Business of every kind is still built on people. The stronger your employees’ people skills, the stronger your culture and bottom-line! 78% of people around the globe say that more frequent training would help them trust their employer more.

Training is helping companies like Chick-fil-A and The Container Store to win big in their industries. It turns out people are not born saying, “My pleasure” when asked to help a customer or colleague! Training is an opportunity to drive a common language into a culture, reinforce safety habits, and affirm what “great” looks and sounds like. Training often leads to a feeling of gratitude by employees which increases engagement and retention because they feel like the organization is investing in them. One CEO shared that he believes the training they do turns a single employee into what would take three employees at other companies. So how can you keep from wasting millions on talent development and leadership training that doesn’t work? The following points should be considered if you want your talent development strategy to have lasting results

Sample B – This is an excerpt from a Forbes article that was written by David Horsager

• One of the biggest mistakes a leader can make is to assume that others trust him simply by virtue of his title. Trust is not a benefit that comes packaged with the nameplate on your door. It must be earned, and it takes time. As a leader, you are trusted only to the degree that people believe in your ability, consistency, integrity, and commitment to deliver. The good news is that you can earn trust over time, by building and maintaining eight key strengths:

Clarity: People trust the clear and mistrust or distrust the ambiguous. Be clear about your mission, purpose, expectations, and daily activities. When a leader is clear about expectations, she will likely get what she wants. When we are clear about priorities on a daily basis, we become productive and effective.

Compassion: People put faith in those who care beyond themselves. Think beyond yourself, and never underestimate the power of sincerely caring about another person. People are often skeptical about whether someone really has their best interests in mind. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not just an old saying. It is a bottom-line truth. Follow it, and you will build trust.

Trust can’t be built overnight. It requires time, effort, diligence, and character. Inspiring trust is not slick or easy to fake. Trust is like a forest. It takes a long time to grow and can burn down with a just touch of carelessness. But if you focus on these eight components with every action, you will foster trusted relationships—whether with employees, customers, suppliers, or fellow leaders—that will drive results and the bottom line.

Sample C – An excerpt from David’s book “Trusted Leader”

At the heart of my original research, I made two critical findings. The first is that trust is the single greatest metric for success. The second is that there is a way to build or rebuild trust. As I pondered, “How does one increase trust?” my inquiry led me to discover the eight specific traits the most trusted leaders, brands, and organizations have in common. When even one of these eight traits is weak, trust will predictably be compromised. When all eight traits are present, trust will be strong. Strength in all 8 Pillars of Trust leads to the greatest advantage in business and in life, which I have come to call The Trust Edge.  

In our story, Ethan encounters the 8 Pillars through Sunny, his friends in the Brain Trust, Sunny’s son Milo, and many other employees at The Grove. The Grove might not be a real place, but there are companies all over the world that, knowingly or not, practice the 8 Pillars and have thriving businesses with workplace cultures as vibrant and successful as this imaginary ski lodge. This trust framework was an extremely exciting discovery. It meant that in any case where a business is struggling, places more like 10K Solutions than like The Grove, not only will we find a predictable lack of trust, we will also find concrete, diagnosable reasonsfor the weakness—and they are fixable!  

It is true that in a given situation, some of these traits may be more important than others. If I’m hiring a nanny for my kids, for instance, I’m watching out for compassion and character more than clarity. If you’re the surgeon about to operate on my child, I’m not too concerned with your connection,but I am keenly interested in your competency! By and large, though, all 8 Pillars are relatively coequal, and for the structure of trust to stand—all 8 Pillars need to be present, healthy, and strong.  

Like the columns of a building, the pillars hold up the entire edifice. When one or more of the 8 Pillars is weakened, the structure itself is in danger of collapse. In the case of 10K, the company was naturally excelling in some pillars. But other pillars had weakened to the point of total collapse. The strength of the pillars the company did well in couldn’t make up for the weakness in all the others. This shows how important it is to diagnose organizational problems and arrive at the necessary remedies. With a breadth of experience coupled with our ongoing research, I believe every organizational and leadership issue can be solved by using this framework. I am not saying it is easy, or that contextualization is not necessary. I am saying that every issue falls under one or more of the 8 Pillars of Trust. For this reason it is valuable to create a common language around trust in organizations that want to enjoy the benefits of a high-trust culture.  

Ethan was not able to get a comprehensive master class in the details of every single pillar during his stay at The Grove. But the remainder of this book provides insights and takeaways into each of the 8 Pillars to help drive your own results. There is a description of each pillar, what it looks like when that pillar is weakened, and suggestions on how to strengthen that particular pillar. An in-depth discussion of all 8 Pillars, including more suggestions for how to strengthen them within your own business or organization, can be found in the book The Trust Edge or at www.Trust​Edge​.com.