TheHomeMag North Orange County August 2026

WORDS o f WISDOM 2026

Leadership Starts with Trust

"Trust is like blood pressure. It's silent, vital to good health, and if abused it can be deadly." — Frank Sonnenberg

Are you surrounded by trustworthy people? Can you trust the people at home or at work? How long could you be away and still have operations run smoothly?

This past month, I had the opportunity to step away for a few days to relax and recharge during the summer. At the same time, our publisher was traveling abroad in Italy for the entire month. Even with both of us away, our team kept everything running smoothly and successfully produced our July issue without missing a beat. That experience reminded me just how valuable trust is and how important it is to build a team you can truly count on. Both of our vacations were made possible because we have something very powerful at TheHomeMag SoCal office: TNT (Trust n’ Team). We have an awesome team made up of both experienced and newer team members. For the experienced members, my absence was an opportunity to reinforce why I trust them. For the newer members, it was a chance to earn that trust.

What kind of TNT are you dealing with? How do you foster trust? Do you help your team, or even your family, build integrity and earn one another's confidence? Start the process of building trust with these four simple steps:

1. Do what you say. One of the most important ways to build trust is to follow through on your commitments. Even small promises matter. Canceling or failing to follow through creates tiny fractures in your credibility.

2. Honor your promises. Trust grows when people know they can depend on you, especially over time. When you make a promise, keep it.

3. Be consistent. Reliability isn't about doing the right thing once. It's about doing it repeatedly. People trust those they can count on day after day.

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