Great fun last week to give a keynote speech for an event with Credit Agricole at the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong. I included a story (which I don’t always include) about a time I got robbed at gunpoint on an expedition. One theme of the speech was collaboration, and as I have recently been reflecting on the importance of trust, I used the story to reflect on how our trust in fellow humans can be very quickly demolished when someone hurts us (whether physically or, more likely, emotionally).
After I was robbed, I did not trust anyone I met for weeks – even people offering to help. But it was vital that I didn’t harden my heart, but rather learned to trust again, because the majority of people were so helpful and kind, and I couldn’t have done the expedition without them.
Everyone has experiences of having their trust broken. But whilst we must grow in wisdom about who to trust, I believe it is important to avoid hardening our hearts and being overly cynical. In the long run, it is a bad way to live.
Credit Agricole was a very warm audience, engaged, ready to laugh a lot, and with lots of quite deep questions at the end. Thank you for having me to speak!
This photo was taken during an icebreaker near the beginning when I am running around the audience seeing how they are getting on.