A Book Review of The Speed of Trust : The One Thing that Changes Everything,by Stephen M. R. Covey (2006),New York,Free Press

This reviewer was first introduced to the book The Speed of Trust: The Only Thing That Changes Everything, by Stephen M. R. Covey, with Rebecca R. Merrill (2006), when she taught a course in nursing leadership and management to undergraduate nursing students. As a nurse and former hospital administrator, the reviewer knew the importance of trust in that workplace, yet as a new faculty person she was intrigued. Of course, it helped that the book’s main author’s most “formative experience … in increasing trust occurred … as a result of the merger between Franklin Quest and the Covey Leadership Center to form FranklinCovey Company” (Covey, 2006, p. 6). Long a fan of the Franklin Quest organizational products and Stephen R. Covey’s (1989) work The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, this writer was curious to see what this Covey, with Merrill, had to say and what he had to say about trust.

The book is an easy read, told in the typical storytelling fashion of other self-help work-improvement-type books. One should not be fooled by its apparent simplicity, however. As noted earlier in Morrow’s editorial, one could understand from the annual Gallup poll (Norman, 2016) on honest and ethical professions that trusting professions are both honest and ethical. Covey, with Merrill (2006), discusses both concepts in the model as underpinnings to trust and yet adds much more. He created the visual of trust waves as concentric connected circles starting from the inside-out with self-trust, as the metaphorical pebble dropped in water. His point is that growing trust, whether it is in a relationship, an organization, the marketplace, or society begins first with ourselves. In other words, the change begins with us.

The book contains not only stories from Covey’s experiences in business but also quotes from others in the business world, politics, and history. In addition, there are questionnaires for the readers to determine their own credibility as well as worksheets to develop one’s trust action plans. Covey, with Merrill (2006), presents trust’s four cores of credibility and 13 behaviors that one can focus on to enhance and not destroy trust.

Covey, with Merrill (2006), makes the business case for trust in noting that increasing trust increases speed and decreases cost. While nurses often are hesitant to embrace healthcare as a business, and these examples are business examples, this reviewer found it was easy to convert the examples and experiences to healthcare. In fact, this book helped the student nurses understand that healthcare is a business, albeit an unusual one, and the importance of their future role in establishing trust quickly with the persons seeking care.

The authors do not shy away from the dark side of trust. The authors discuss the notion that it can be a risk to trust and that one can lose trust. They have created a matrix that again provides a visual clue to how to be smart about trusting. In fact, instead of revising this book, Covey has written a new book that expands on this notion about the importance of being smart about trusting. The authors also spend a fair amount of time discussing how to restore trust when necessary. Hope is created by making the point that one can restore trust, starting with changing oneself first.

The most intriguing notion that Covey, with Merrill (2006), covers is the idea of stewardship in building trust. This is something Covey’s father touched upon in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989) and this Covey expands upon. Stewardship for the Coveys is “responsibility with a trust” (Covey, 2006, p. 298). It is noted that some people cannot make the leap from manager to leader, though they may be able to delegate tasks and say they trust; they do not truly allow others to be stewards of the responsibility. In that way, they fall short of inspiring others. Stewardship according to Covey, with Merrill (2006), “engages genuine ownership and accountability, brings out people’s resourcefulness and creates the environment that generates high-trust dividends” (p. 299). Many people know leaders and faculty who have inspired others by providing opportunities of responsibility with trust. As nursing faculty, it does make one ponder if one is reciprocating in kind and paying that forward to the next generation of nurses.

Another question one might have when reading this book or considering it for a text in a nursing leadership and management course is: Is there any research behind Covey’s work? While not posted in this book, the research he has done to test his model can be found readily on the website address: www.speedoftrust.com. The website also includes some videos that could be used in the classroom or in online discussion groups. There is also a free tool at www.WhoTrustsMe.com, where one can get feedback and person insight on trust. Others (Doucet, 2009) have noted this book is “from a particulate perspective” (p. 265) and may be more prescriptive than conceptual. At the same time, as a former healthcare administrator, this reviewer finds it valuable for undergraduates in framing the important discussion of trust as a healthcare business.