Consumer Trust and Social Media

An interesting link on  the factor of trust related to influence of social media in product  brand-building.My comment appears at the end.

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-recommendations_b52652#disqus_thread

        In the world dominated by social media,traditional media,or advertising is facing many limitations in product-brand building.The consumers' trust in social media,for buying products based on people's recommendations,is definitely a pardigm shift as far as media strategy is concerned.But,the results have to be analysed in the context of regional variations.In India,the social media is gaining popularity,but whether it can play a powerful role in product brand-building,has yet to be analysed 

Can We Find More Leaders Who Can Trust Themselves?

 Recently, when I read through insightful piece on the trust aspects of leadership from Erika Anderson,I could not stop myself commenting on it.See my comment below,and Erika's response.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/12/06/great-leaders-trust-themselves-and-you/?utm_source=alertscalledoutcomment&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20131208

        Today,we need great leaders who show us a way by building up a strong model of trust.The problem in most of the cases is that the most of the leaders don't have trust in themselves,as a result they fail to rally people around them.Can such type of leaders emerge in large numbers?The success of our systems will depend on this.

The World is Driven by Innovation Built Upon Trust

Recently, when I went through the link http://thedx.druckerinstitute.com/2013/12/how-trust-leads-to-innovation/, I felt reflecting upon this well-crafted piece, through my comment[See the comment below the article].It was a good learning experience going through this piece.

       I think the world is driven by innovation, which is built upon trust. Every nation, every sector, and every organization is craving for innovation. Innovations are a growth indicator, driven by the impulse to see change all around. However, the foundation of innovation is trust. The group dynamics helps in problem-solving, based on innovative solutions.

 The organizations which innovate are successful, and here the level of trust is noteworthy. Can we motivate every one in the organisations to innovate by building up their self-trust, and helping them to trust the people around. This may be one of the major issues in organizational dynamics.

Delhi Assembly Elections and the Trust Level of Youth

At a time when the trust level of people in the politicians has diminished, Delhi assembly elections have come as a fresh change. And who have been the harbingers of change? They are youth, who have reposed their trust in the electoral system as never before. The large voter-turn out in the elections has been mainly due to their increasing level of participation. Delhi’s 65.13% voter turn-out has been a landmark, in which around 2% of the total turn-out can be attributed to youth alone.

So, has a paradigm shift come? It is too early to say, but the level of trust shown by the youth started with a social cause-the movement against corruption started by Anna Hazare. A committed leadership united for a big cause attracted the youth, who started trusting the leaders who appeared to them the agents of change in a decadent political culture. But, when the movement fizzled out, and Arvind Kejriwal parted out to form a political party, the trust level appeared to be broken. Kejriwal’s call to youth to enter the political fray to bring in systematic change strengthened the trust.

Much will now depend on the results of Delhi elections. The trust of youth in AAP will show a real test when the results are out. However,  it appears that AAP is bound to emerge as a major political force in future, and youth will be its prime target group. To what extent AAP is able to keep the trust level of youth intact based on its performance, has to be seen. The promise of systematic change has to be translated into reality. Today, the country faces a big challenge to ensure that the youth increase their level of trust in politics. At a deeper level, the trust level of youth in politics, will increase only if more such alternatives promising change like AAP emerge. The rising   awareness level of youth towards political issues can be utilised in a constructive way only if trust-worthy political equations emerge which strike a popular chord in the minds of dominant youth population.  

Doing Activity Together Helps Build Up Trust

Recently. when I went through this link http://solutiondesign.com/food-and-trust/, I got new insights on how  to build up trust through eating together. The author comes up with refreshing insights on what needs to be done to build-up team spirit through eating together.  In organisational growth, this is a factor which is grossly neglected. When people in organisations don't trust each other, they try their best to avoid each other. They just do their job, without caring to find an opportunity to intermingle with others, or do some activity in leisure time together.

     Some of the people in the organisations show a lonely approach when they don't feel the inner urge to share lunch  with their team-mates. As a result, they feel stress. which affects their work productivity. Eating together provides a wonderful opportunity to build up informal relationships, which go beyond the work domain. All this helps in building up trust, which helps in the work performance too. The organisations which encourage people going out for meals together, or picnics, etc are bound to create a culture which is open, and which allows people working in the organisations bond together. I find that encouraging workers to indulge in some sports /cultural activity in a group manner can also be a good way to bust out their stress. Many of the organisations are doing this, but the fact remains that many of them neglect this vital factor,is  a worrisome trend.

Organisations can build up trust when employees are given opportunities to trust each other through creating non-official channels of communication which are not based on professional relationship. I think this can be a difficult process, and may lead to people comparing with each other on personal front too. But, the benefits are more in this approach, simply because this provides an opportunity for each employee to know the personal side of each other. A compassionate outlook thus can be created, which helps remove the ill-will amongst the employees.

A futuristic vision for robust organisational growth rests on formulating effective trust devices which are based on encouraging group activity amongst the employees. At a time when team-building is given much emphasis in organisations for  achieving the targets, informal group activities can help in building up an open and transparent work culture, which  can uplift the morale of an organisation.

Even in other fields too, doing an activity together has good results. Researchers from University of Buffalo recently studies 634 couples through their first nine years of marriage, finding that divorce rate was higher only when one person was a heavy drinker. Surprisingly, if both partners drank equally heavy then their choice of splitting  up were no longer high. When I read this interesting statistics through a news-item, I got convinced that the power of doing an activity together is immense.

With our society becoming individualistic, community ties are becoming weaker. Group activities, whether informal, or formal are needed to build up community ties. Bonding of couples through mutual involvement of partners is much needed to strengthen families which tend to break due to the inflated egos of the partners.

Do We Have Trust In Our Capabilities?

Often, we like comparing ourselves with others. We  lament that we are inferior to those, whom, we consider are success in their lives. Money, power and influence are generally  our common yard-sticks to judge others’ success.  While comparing  ourselves with others, we tend to have more trust in the capabilities of others. Our admiration of  our role-models is generally built on our inferiority complex, with which we are often gripped with. We are not able to break the shackles of our complex, because we don’t have trust in our capabilities.

Having not  trust  in our capabilities hampers our ability to triumph in our daily life. We develop stress, fear, and we are not able to surge ahead. At family level, we fail to become a role model for other family members, as we are ourself  not sure of our capabilities. Our ability to generate happiness for our family is crippled due to lack of trust in ourself to transcend our weaknesses, and think for others’ happiness. At society level, our contribution in making a better society does not come up to the surface as we don’t have trust in our potentialities to think beyond ourself.

The achievers in every walk of life have triumphed because of their trust in their capabilities. They have overcome their limitations because they have trust in their capabilities to overcome all odds. The society today needs people who have trust in their capabilities. The only change will come, and our institutions will work. The leaders will emerge only when people are given encouragement to develop their attitude to trust  their capabilities. Then only such people will develop leadership traits, and mobilize the people around for a common objective, thus setting up an example for others. At school level, the value education component  must give due emphasis on trust-building component. Children’s thinking must be developed through creative ways so that they  feel confident to develop trust in their capabilities.

How can one develop trust in  one’s capabilities at individual level? A spiritual practice can help in bringing the change in one’s thinking. Courage, confidence and high-life condition will follow naturally, which will bolster a person to trust his capabilities. If a person can trust in his capabilities, then he will usher change in the society by encouraging others to trust their capabilities. The highest potentialities of people then emerge, which can revolutionise our socio-economic system.

                          Can We Help Our Children Grow Up in Trust?

Today, my teenage daughter, declared at the top of her voice, that we as parents don’t trust her. I was shocked to hear this. Obviously ,her pent-up feelings found an outlet in her outburst. Since many days, we were trying to pose  a lot of uncomfortable  questions to her, which were making her disturbed. She didn’t like us following her friends, she didn’t like us forcing her to study, she didn’t like us to intrude in her private space which she was creating fro herself. This experience was a wake-up call for me,and I undertook a deeper introspection, which provided me new insights. I am sure many of the parents may be facing similar-like situation.

As parents, we don’t find time for our children. We don’t understand the need for spending quality time with them. In whatever time we spend, we force our fixed notions of life on them. We force our judgement on them on many occasions. We tell them what is right, and what is wrong from our own perspective. We don’t present the facts in a balanced way, which make the children develop their faculties to judge. We analyse the situation from a biased perspective, and force our children to accept our view-point. All this destroys the chances of trust-building.

Children can develop trust in parents when they see their parents as friends. This change in perspective requires much efforts from the parents. The children can trust us when we have a firm belief in their potentialities, and we stop comparing them with other children. The moment we realize that our children have unique potential, which can be nurtured by us in their field of his/her choice, the seeds of trust sprout up. We get the right wisdom to deal with our child, and the mutual trust begins to develop. Our huge expectations from our child begins to diminish, and we try to locate the treasure in our child by looking what lies within our child. We are not bothered by our child’s external behaviour, simply because we ourselves change our thinking.

Helping children to grow up in trust will be a big challenge for the parents in the times to come. Simply because trust-deficit in all walks of life is increasing. If we make efforts make children grow up in trust, then we can make immense contribution in creating of a new society. Our children can be the biggest ambassadors of trust-building when they mature as adults. Their lessons in trust-building will become an effective guide for them to become change-agents in their fields of profession.