Guest blog by Idris Fashan
How Building and Keeping Relationships Are Virtues Greater than Patience
Like. Respect. Trust.
This mantra, during my first phone conversation with Mike Mack, was mentioned more than once, as most of you can likely imagine… 😉
I can’t recall the number of times he had repeated it over the last year we have known each other or worked together. But slowly, it’s made its way into my mind, and the results have been immense.
As a lifelong entrepreneur, I have undergone the succession process with an old business, and the difficulty of passing it on to people I didn’t completely like or trust made selling my business a regret that I continue to live with.
As I think about this mantra, I can pick out several experiences in my business career that could have been greatly improved had I understood the power that comes with LRT.
How does LRT work?
In my new business, it has become easy to embody my like-ability. I love my work, I love what I do, and I have a big personality that I am happy to share with anyone willing to listen.
But the respect and trust elements demand that I be a steward of my friends’ and clients’ needs, and I need to remain an active listener for their less obvious needs and challenges that come up.
This can only come with time and experience, and some of the most amazing conversations that my clients and I have had together began with me asking, “So how can I help you?” right after the meal is ordered.
Knowing that I might be able to help a business friend before they become a client is a very powerful feeling, and it wasn’t made clear to me how much it builds respect until recently.
It builds respect from the friend, respect from the vendor, and respect from the community over time.
Slow and Steady
By building this respect and rapport up, one person at a time, I build a deepened trust with many people, not by words, not by personality, but by duty—and commitment.
“Trust that is built slowly is built much more strongly,” my grandmother always used to say. She has a million aphorisms that I have still not completely unpacked with such deceivingly simple words. (I am forever in awe of the wise.)
But the truth about trust is just that. It requires self monitoring and reservation. People who rush to try and gain your trust stand out, and they lose credibility quickly.
Inever try to offer the world to new friends or new clients. I take it slowly, and I respect myself more for being reserved about it.
And this, for me, has been one of the most powerful aspects of LRT, that they work inward even as you direct your actions outward.
I would really like to hear more about how LRT has affected you, and how your experiences have influenced your LRT in business and life. Please comment below!
