One of the secrets to (re)building trust really isn’t much of a secret, but it also isn’t exactly intuitive. The clients that we work with almost always feel that they need to project professionalism and confidence in their dealings with the public. That may certainly be true in almost all peer to peer business negotiations, but needs to be tempered and reconsidered when dealing with angry or skeptical citizens. In those cases, your confidence and professional façade most often feels like arrogance, which doesn’t help your trust building efforts. That means you have to find that sweet spot in that complex mix of competence, assertiveness and humility. Read More …