Obama continues to impress with his deep understanding of trust-centric marketing.
Just a couple of days after praising Obama’s trust-centric savvy in my last post, he participated in his first formal interview as President of the United States. In the first one hundred seconds of this interview with Arab TV network Al-Arabiya, Obama unconsciously executed no less than four trust-building techniques.
As you read the four selected quotes below (with my notes attached), consider how you might use these same techniques to build trust in you or your organisation…
<When referring to Senator George Mitchell and his upcoming peace negotiations in the Middle East, Obama says…> What I’ve told him is, start by listening, <Trust building technique: Seek first to understand and then be understood>.
…because all too often the United States has started by dictating in the past on some of these issues <Trust building technique: Candor> … and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved <Candor again. It often helps to build trust if you can admit your shortcomings>.
… Ultimately, we cannot tell either the Israeli’s or the Palestinian’s what’s best for them. They’re going to have to make some decisions. <Trust building technique: Catering to the stakeholder’s ‘in control need’>.
… I want to make sure that expectations are not raised so that everyone thinks this is going to be resolved in a few months. <Trust building technique: Under-promise and over-deliver>.