The Case Foundation, Achieve and others are hosting the Millenial Donor Summit today. Resources abound. In this session, author, speaker and blogger Julien Smith shared about how Millennials are (or aren’t) trust agents. B/c of tech issues, I came in halfway through when he reviewed the trust equation from the book the “Trusted Advisor“.

Trust equation: C + R + I – S = Trust

1. Credibility – I am who I say I am

PLUS

2. Reliability – when I say I’m going to do something…I actually do it.  Reliability on the web is valuable because no one does it (no one cares if you Tweet every 10th day or blog inconsistently). BUT if you do create integrity and reliability, you’ll go further

PLUS

3. Intimacy – sharing about themselves in a very personal way. If you never show yourself as vulnerable, you won’t grow completely trusting relationships

MINUS

4. Self-Interest – the only negative part of the equation. People have very strong ‘BS’ detectors. You know when people give fake smiles or are in it for themselves. Abuses of trust (like self-interest) have been high in the past, so now we’re paying for it in trying to remedy and/or create strong new relationships. NOTE: High self-interest isn’t necessarily bad but it’s got to be balanced by high levels of the other 3 factors.

EQUALS

5. Trust

P.S. Katya Andreson posted a great interview with Julien as a sneak peak this morning on her blog – enjoy!

P.P.S. He also was adamant that we read the books Blue Ocean and Influence. Make a note of it.