"Trust" - Anne Donovan

Anne is a Human Resources leader known for developing new programs/training and improving employee retention and leadership performance (https://donovanhrsolutions.com/). She wants to help employers realize the importance of building trust, respect, and recognition in the work place. She believes it will make for a better employee experience, better results for the organization, and frankly a better world for all of us.

That is what Anne does, but as with most guests I have on this show, the story behind why she does it, how she got here, and what makes her approach life the way she does is even more interesting. Anne was like a lot of people, a successful workaholic, living in NY trying to get ahead. Then as it always does, life happened. She was laid off, began questioning everything and decided to pack up her things and move to Montana. She realized relationships, nature, and facing her fears were far more important than the things she valued before.

The thread that ran throughout this discussion was "trust." That was Anne's most important value and we talked about it from various different levels. We talked about trusting other people, we talked about trusting the universe, and we talked about trusting yourself. For Anne, although there are risks, putting trust out into the world leads to a much richer, more fulfilled life. She has seen it work first hand for her and now she wants to take that experience and help employers realize the power of it as well.

As always, we also spent some time challenging the idea of trust. Particularly in the work place, employers often fear that too much trust will lead to entitlement, laziness, and ultimately a lack of productivity. If we are being honest, that fear is not unfounded, so we discussed how to find the right balance between trust and accountability. At its core the issue of trust comes down to perspective. Are you willing to be optimistic about humanity and have faith that your trust in others will be rewarded; or do you think trusting humanity is ultimately naive and will get your burned?