Catherine glanced at her watch; it was 8.50pm. She had promised her father that she would be home by 9pm. There was school tomorrow and usually her father would pick her up but since she was now 16 years old, it had taken her two hours negotiation with her mother defending her, for her to be allowed to make her way home. If she arrived late, not only would she have let herself down, but her mother too by breaking the trust she had placed on her daughter.
Charles looked at the presentation. The clock was ticking. The company presentation event was tomorrow and he was no where near finished. They needed this deal to go through and it didn’t help that he had been drinking until late, last night. His boss had not been too keen on this deal but Charles had promised his boss he would deliver. He had promised his boss he would take full responsibility for this sales pitch. His boss had been concerned that due to the short deadline, they would not be able to prepare a good presentation which could affect their future chances with this particular client. His boss Peter, had spent 20 years building the company brand, Charles could ruin this in 20 minutes if he produced a sub standard presentation in the company’s name. Why oh why, had he stayed out partying late into the night? Why could he not have forgone one night of fun, and instead, invest the time in this important presentation.
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In both cases above, trust has been granted and trust is being put to the test. When people place their trust in us, we have to do what we promise, for we may only have one chance. Not everyone will be as forgiving as our parents, hence why we must never break trust. If, or when, we do break this trust, we need to take ownership, apologise and explain what went wrong – the usual acts of disappearing, ignoring calls, pretending nothing happened are the worst responses. Not only are these immature but they are disrespectful too. The other party may not say anything but trust is like a fragile glass, once broken, you can try and restore it but the cracks will always show. So, treat trust like a precious glass; it is a one time gift so don’t break it! To read more posts by Miriam. click HERE
