It's something that had happened many years ago, if not this assignment entitled "Trust or Distrust", I have almost forgot to. On the other side, it may be an opportunities for me to learn something new in my life.
My mum ran a small shop. Business has been good and there were many loyalty customers to the shop. Actually, I didn't take care of the business, just heard them from my mum only.
"The morning sun never lasts a day", my mum got a seriously ill and I need to take care for the business. I trust my uncle, after he learned that my mother was sick, he said that he would help me to take care all the stuffs so that I can concentrate on taking care of my mother. A few months later, I found that our shop had been recovered due to rent arrears, thus, the business no longer can continue.
I decided to trust my uncle. On decision-maker factors, I am a risk taker and a well adjusted person. I won't spend too much time in calculating what might go wrong in the situation and I am willingness to trust people, especially family members. I trust my uncle because of his credibility, and the personal trust which has been developed through shared experiences and knowledge of his characters.
In situational factors, the alignment of interests is high as I think that my uncle will serve my interest well - to take care of the business then both of us will benefit from the profit and I can keeping the loyalty customers without lost due to closing the shop for a long period of time. Uncle showed his care and great concern to us. In that worse situation, I need to spend all my time to look after my mum rather than the business. I don't have any other options that finally I choosing trust based on all the above factors as I've mentioned.
I have a big lesson as I am too trusting people that as a result I loss a business. I learned to questioning someone if they offer help. The level of adjustment of me has been changed and became lower as I need to spend more times to build trust now. I will rethinking on "trust" and will ask "How's the relationship between us? Is he/she wants to make friend and build trust with me?" However, I still believe that the world is full of love and peace, and human is good rather than bad. On my mind, "risk" also means "chance". Business has been lost, however...it doesn't mean it is the end of the world, I have gained different experience and opportunities to work in different field, which have made my life more meaningful and fruitful. But I also know that I need to change my behavior to protect myself/interest more. It is not easy for me to change my personality, maybe I am a risk taker naturally.
References:
References:
- Saj-nicole A. Joni (March 2004). The Geography of Trust. Harvard Business Review, p83-88
- Robert F. Hurley (September 2006). The Decision to Trust. Harvard Business Review, p55-62
