Have you ever run across a phrase that you never want to forget? I did, just a few weeks ago. I’m sharing it with you in turn since you’re likely reading this in search of ways to be more than just plain good at relationship-building; you want to be masterful. This phrase will help you do exactly that.

The Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle is reported to have said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” And so it is with trustworthy behaviors. This tip shares a simple structure to help you develop habits that can improve all your stakeholder relationships, with ease and maybe even a little fun.

Last week’s tip about high self-orientation reminded me of a funny and instructive story about Big S issues (mine). It includes important signs to look for that will help you up your trust game.

Some years ago, I had an experience with an airline that shed light on the difference between a fake win-win and a real win-win. In short, the difference boiled down to incentives. The lesson for us all:  mind your motives. Are yours always as squeaky clean as they could be?

We’re continuing our focus on trust-based networking from last week, because it’s a challenge for so many.

Networking has been a hot topic in my workshops lately because most of my clients honestly dislike it. Some are good at pretending to like it, while others find clever ways to avoid it. In the good news realm, it doesn’t have to be that way; specific best practices can help.

One thing I find to be universally true with the consulting profession is that efforts to be more effective with sales/business development never focus enough on the psychology of buying/selling. Today’s tip aims to tip the scales with three important insights.

You know you need to do a better job with some aspect of relationship-building—like be more proactive with your client reach-outs—but you don’t do it. Repeatedly. Why is that? Keep reading to find out the (likely) real reason, and the best remedy.

We all know that bumper sticker, “Sh—happens.” Sometimes things don’t go well. Occasionally it’s even your fault. How masterful are you at trust recovery when that’s the case? Rate yourself using these six keys to find out.

A competency model won’t answer the mail when it comes to building trustworthiness—in fact, there’s risk in attempting to reduce trust to a series of behavioral definitions. At the same time, there is value in culling down the essential skills of a trusted advisor to a practical number. Charlie Green and I specifically identified five in The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook. Heads up:  each skill is at risk of being easily dismissed as too basic to merit your attention. Don’t be fooled.