"Humpty Dumpty sat on a great wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again."

What does a nursery rhyme have to do with leadership? Leadership is about trust and trust is fragile just like an eggeasy to break. Once you lose it, it is almost impossible to get it back.

Once upon a time, people trusted their leaders. Trust came with the job. Today it is different. We are a doubting and mistrustful society. Reason: people in positions of authority violated their pact with those they were supposed to lead. Their personal lives stained their public lives. As a military officer, I was always taught to avoid all appearance of evil. Obviously, not everyone takes that advice and we suffer the consequences.

The bottom-line is that it doesn't matter if you are the President of the United States or the store manager of the local pharmacy . . . you must build trust in order to be an effective leader.

Here are some suggestions on how to keep and build trust:

· Your personal life is your public life. Your personal life is a reflection of whom you really are. If you are in a leadership position, your personal life is open to public scrutiny. People will not follow you if they do not respect you. You may not like it, but that is the way it is.

· Tell the whole story. The worst thing you can do is not be open and honest with people. Trying to hide information will always bite you in the posterior. Tell people everything they need to know even if it is bad news. Err on the side of giving too much information than not enough.

· Do what you say you will do. How many times have you heard, "I'll get back to you on that," but they don't. Don't make promises you can't or won't keep. People's problems with trust come from past untrustworthy activities.

Listen to others - Give people 100% of your attention. Seek first to understand. Repeat back what you think they are telling you.