Real relationships require trust and trust requires personal risk-taking. Those who tend to avoid risk lose priceless trust-building opportunities, while those who master risk-taking as a skill learn to employ what is paradoxically the greatest risk-mitigation strategy.

If you’ve ever used a web browser user, you’ve probably been faced from time to time with an unexpected crash, causing all your open tabs to close. If you’ve ever experienced this with Mozilla Firefox, you’ve probably had to smile at the power of their very disarming error message, which displays on the screen in big, bold letters: “Well, this is embarrassing.”

A colleague and his wife were invited to an important company affair, a dinner party. His wife was seated next to one of the key people at the dinner. She later said to her husband: “What a bore! I didn’t say two words all night; all he did was talk about himself.”

The business world is rife with the unexpected, including uncomfortable and awkward “moments of truth” that occur at the worst possible time.

The metaphor of dancing partners is perfect for real relationships—the kind that are based on authenticity, openness, and trust. It conjures up images of give and take, synchronization, graceful movement, and being in step and in tune with one another.

Unit7, a direct marketing/CRM agency that is part of the Omnicom family, figured out an ingenious way to give heart to a campaign for a Type 2 diabetes medication to fight off diabetes.

The Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”Malcolm Gladwell brought this same phenomenon to our attention in modern times in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. A common theme throughout Gladwell’s book is the “10,000-Hour Rule,” based on a study by psychologist Anders Ericsson, suggesting mastery in anything requires a 10,000-hour investment.

There are five skills that are essential to trust-based relationships*. Listening is one of them.

Conventional wisdom suggests that knowledge is power—it’s something to be emphasized, coveted, wielded. At The Get Real Project, we don’t see it that way. We believe curiosity is king.