Trust but Verify

January 28th, 2024 (about 1 year ago) • 1 minute

Trust is a beautiful yet difficult thing. Trust lets you believe in the good of others but it also makes you get burned sometimes. Trust is a double-edged sword.

I agree that it is not a perfect system, but think about it - if you default to trust, you will be able to move things faster and more efficiently with the slight chance of getting burned. Isn't this much better instead of always assuming the worst in people?

To use that in life, one thing that I successfully (and happily) propagated to my team at work is to Trust but Verify. I trust that what others are telling me is true, but I also want to verify to achieve 2 things:

• Create accountability in another person; If people know that you will double check, they will be more diligent and come up with justifications for their actions

• Encourage people to challenge the status quo; When you verify something, you are not only checking if it is true, you are also checking if it is the best way to do it.