I’m a big fan of stories as vivid illustrations of things that matter and make a difference when it comes to trust-building. This week’s tip is based on a short and compelling one from The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook.

I don’t pretend to know everything it takes to be a great leader. I do know that I have tremendous respect for business people who are calm, decisive, energized, and really present. I also know that I’m at my professional worst when I’m frenzied, unfocused, tired, distracted. And I’ve noticed that I often get bogged down by a most curious phenomenon: clutter.

This week’s tip is brought to you thanks to my extraordinary partnership with co-author, Charlie Green. It answers this question: What do you do when your client is a jerk?

When you think about your biggest role model for keeping it real, I bet you don’t immediately think, “Beauty pageant contestant!”

For me, words like “made up” and “dolled up” come to mind sooner for me than “authentic” and “genuine”—or used to.

If you’ve been tuning in for the past two weeks, you know I’ve been sharing three-word phrases that belong in everyone’s trusted advisor toolkit. So far, those are “That makes sense” and “I don’t know.” The third and last trust-building phrase is “Tell me more.” (We could add “I love you” to the list of word triplets, but then things start to get a little too squishy. Or do they?)