The following is an excerpt from Chapter 7, Winners Are Driven
(Bobby Unser, Paul Pease, Wiley, copyright by Mi-5, 2003). It seems that some stories are timeless, but we can't seem to get the lessons to stick:

"People fundamentally know that trust is a good thing. Why do so many good, trustworthy people sway off course? How can you avoid their mistakes? With all of the problems going on with some major corporate executives destroying trust in the executive ranks, how do you avoid their traps? I’ll talk about the temptations that can take you off the path and crash an honest reputation. Then I’ll tell you how to avoid these potential crashes that kill careers…….
…….In this day and age of constant bombardment of material wants and wealth and instant gratification, some people need to understand why it’s so important to pave a path to success with trust, instead of greed and impatience. That’s why you need to know how trust benefits you. By knowing the benefits of trust, you won’t likely sway off the path when instant gratification or greed tempts you…

……In business, something is either going wrong, or it’s changing. It’s no different than racing. There’s always some sort of pothole, bump, or debris on the road to success. Sometimes, there’s a major crash, creating a momentary crisis. These are all unexpected events that challenge race-car drivers. In your career, there are also external events constantly occurring that affect your performance…..
…..The big worry people have today is that as soon as something goes wrong, their division will be sold, their department budget cut, or they’ll get laid off. Some people even have this worry if things are going right- that’s how bad it gets. If we learn to trust each other to work through the challenges and hold together, then we create stability in the long-term.
The problem with change is people don’t trust that the outcome will be better. When change occurs for the wrong reasons- like greed and impatience- then it becomes a bad thing and the result is bad. That’s why people feel uncomfortable with change- anything new is presumed to be a devil they don’t know. Changing for the right reasons- like improving the way things are done- is a better way to do it. Then it’s not a devil of any sort. In fact, it’s an angel, a savior.
When you change for the right reasons and things go wrong- and they will- people trust eventually the outcome will get better. As long as you drive the right reasons, then people won’t be as stressed out about adapting- they’ll feel more secure about going forward. If you are moving in a pro-active, positive direction, many people will trust the change and feel secure moving forward….

….Trust saves time from constant follow-up.
No matter what problems I had with any racing team, owner, or anybody in business, there was one thing people knew when they dealt with Bobby Unser: I was going to show up on time and give 100%. If things didn’t turn out in a race the way we hoped it would, well it sure wasn’t from a lack of total effort.
On the other side of that, when a leader is trusted, and the leader says “Go!” their people “Go!” The leader doesn’t have to waste time constantly being second-guessed by people constantly asking “Why?” Likewise, when the leader trusts you, they don’t waste time asking, “What are you doing?” “How are you going to do it?” “Why are you doing it that way?” and so on. ….
…..It takes time to earn trust, but once that happens, it takes less time to manage trust. You don’t have to keep checking on people to see if they’re doing their job. Likewise, when you are trustworthy, they don’t have to keep on checking up on you. If time is money, and trust saves time, then trust saves money. It also makes money.
When I look back on my path to success there are a lot of people whom I can point to and say, “That person helped me.” They were all different in their personalities, and if you put some of them in the same room, they’d probably start a good fight. But the one common thing about all of them was trust. I could trust them, and they could trust me.
We can see that when people believe in each other that they can relax about what they’re doing, focus on what they need to get done and not waste time nagging others to get their tasks done….
….. Trust builds morale.
Another huge benefit of trust is building confidence in others by giving them the opportunity to succeed. Additionally, it builds self-confidence. People become self-assured when you give them more control over their job….
…..Giving people more authority to make their own decisions, like Roger Penske did, can help you when working with teams. By trusting them to be accountable for their actions, you become a much more effective leader for them. You also build their self-confidence, which makes them a better employee….
…Trust is something that is earned through a combination of words and actions. Since you need believable actions to develop trust, it takes a long time to build a relationship on trust…..

Always give full effort.
Some people may interpret full effort as commitment, but it goes beyond that. You are really building trust. In my last race for Dan Gurney in Phoenix in 1978, I knew I was quitting his team and going to work for Roger Penske as soon as the race was over. But I gave 100% during that race for Dan Gurney’s All American Racers’ Team, because that was the team I was on, and I was going to do my best. In fact, I raced against Team Penske’s Tom Sneva that day and beat him. I wasn’t going to pull any favors for Penske, even though I was going there as soon as the race was over. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to do anything less than 100% for Dan Gurney and the All American Racers, because they all worked hard to get there.
One thing that is truly, truly American is giving 100%. That’s what everybody likes, and that’s why so many people pull for the underdog. People love to see effort, and they really love to see effort win. The other absolutely great thing about someone that has a reputation to go full out the whole time is you trust that person to give it a full shot, and for many employers, that is a big deal.

Actions that back up words.
I’ve always believed that the only way I could be successful was to do things- to take action. When you commit to something- do it. If you can’t make it happen, don’t commit to it. Let’s look at two viewpoints of this issue- taking action to earn trust.
First, let’s look at you and your own career. If you want to be really successful, start out by making sure that whatever you commit do and then you do it. Even if you have to stretch a little to make your commitment- get it done. Look at the long-standing relationship I had with Don Shepherd because he made it to the race, through hell and high water. Or the trust the car parts suppliers had in me for my 1959 Pikes Peak Hill Climb- I always paid my bills on time to them. I did what I said I was going to do. The return in long-term relationships built through actions that make your words true is immense.
Now let’s look at this – building believability through actions- from another viewpoint of this topic: You as the business leader. Some leaders just like to say a bunch of words that try to appease everyone, but then can’t make things happen. Other leaders just give the dirty work to other people- they just give orders. Either way, that’s lazy leadership, and in the end, unbelievable leadership.
The only way you can lead successfully is to motivate your people through your actions, not your words. Get involved with what your people do on a day-to-day basis. This is how you build believable trust with your people. It is taking leadership action that not only shows you care, but brings reality to your leadership. When you are involved with your people, you know how to give them tasks that they will do, and do them right. They believe you because you have taken action to be with them, and, you know not to give them assignments they can’t possibly finish.
You also have to willing to take tough actions and make hard decisions as a leader. I had a guy working for me in my shop for eighteen years, and I had to fire him for drinking during work hours. I caught him by accident. I was out running some noon time errands, and happened to see his truck parked in the parking lot of a bar. I went in, and there he was with a beer in his hand. I asked him what on earth he was doing, and he just said that it was no big deal, to have a couple of beers at lunch. Well, I sure as hell didn’t let any pit crew members on my race team work on my car after having a few beers. I wasn’t about to let one of my mechanics work on a customer’s car after a few beers. That was an easy, clear-cut decision for me, and everybody knew it. So, I fired him. I had to. I had to take believable action to earn the trust of the rest of the employees and my customers.

Losing trust: crashing and burning.
Look at all the people in the corporate world today that make it to the top, and then have to lie and cheat to stay at the top. Some of them even lie to get to the top. Why do they do this? There are three causes I know of.
Causes of losing trust:
1. Impatience.
2. Don’t know how to deal with falling.
3. Material desires exceed the passion for the game.


Impatience.
I didn’t make it to the Indianapolis 500 until I was 29 years old. I had already been racing fifteen years by that time, and had been in many hundreds of races. Despite that long apprenticeship in racing, I never really felt I took any short-cuts to get there. In fact, even the first year, 1963, I wasn’t sure I was ready for Indianapolis.
What drives impatience? Why have we become a world driven by instant gratification? What’s wrong with doing things right, instead of getting instant results? People want to see how quickly anything can be done, including rising to the top of a profession. The big sacrifice they make in being impatient is things may not get done right- they’ll skip steps. The bigger sacrifice is they may lie to cut corners. Getting the result becomes so important, that they lie and cheat their way up the ladder.
We’ve seen many people’s careers ruined because they lied on their resume. Why do they do this? Well they swayed off course- they felt the result was more important than the means they took to get there. They justify the means, even if it means cheating and lying. Everybody has to pay their dues to get to the top- nobody gets in for free. A big part of the dues is to be honest about the path and steps you take to get there, which means you have to be patient until you get there. Some people who read this will think, “Bobby, you’re one of the most impatient people I know. How can you talk about patience?” I’m not patient when it comes to taking action. I just know I can’t take short cuts or fake the results. You can be impatient to do things, but not at the expense of doing things right and truthfully.
Some people don’t take short-cuts to the top, and get there without lying or cheating. But then they make a mistake by lying and cheating to stay on top.

Don’t know how to fall from the top.
After I won the USAC National Racing Championship in 1968 and won the Indy 500, my brother Al asked me, “Well, you are the only one on top. The top is the very peak, and there’s only room for one person up there. You are the champion. What are you going to do?”
I replied, “Well, I’m going to try my best to stay there!”
He said, “Yeah, but you probably can’t stay on top.”
I told him, “It’s okay. I see what you’re getting at, but maybe I won’t fall too far. That way I don’t have to kick so many asses to get back up there again. Don’t you worry about that.”
A lot of people get on top, and then they have to hold on for dear life. They cheat to stay there because they’re worried about falling. I knew I was going to fall. Everybody falls. That’s the way life is. I accepted it. What I didn’t do was deny the fact I would fall, and I didn’t let myself get dejected when I fell. I knew I would get back up to the top again, and I did so in 1974, winning the Championship again.
Even in individual races, I often realized I wasn’t going to win. Sometimes I had a car that just wasn’t fast enough to win. We couldn’t set it up any better and I couldn’t get any more out of it. First place just was not going to happen. That didn’t mean we didn’t run the race as hard as we could- effort was never a question with me or the crew. It’s just we weren’t going to get any more than our best effort could give us, and on a given day with a given car that wasn’t going to be first. I accepted that as a fact, but some people just can’t do that. In fact, many corporations lie about performance when it looks like they can’t win, get first place, grow, or whatever measure they’re using to show “success”. Then they start bouncing checks and the financial reports become fuzzy.

Material desires exceed passion for the game.
Remember, it’s OK to fall now and then. You just have to get back up. But that’s a big problem with many people. They need too much material nonsense to keep themselves “happy”. Once you’ve made enough to live a good life, what else do you need? Why do you need more? You’ve got to keep the fires for the game burning. When your material wants drive you harder than your desire to play the game, you’re going to start losing.
The year I retired from racing, 1981, I was making $180,000 under contract plus over a million dollars in winnings that year, driving for Team Penske. As soon as I quit, I had offers for $1,000,000 just for driving, plus my winnings! Over five times what I was earning for Team Penske! But I didn’t go back for the money. I knew better. I didn’t quit because of the money, so why should I go back for the money?
Drivers today have long-term, high dollar contracts. That’s wrong and it’s bad. It’s wrong because they should have to prove themselves before they get rewarded. Yes, auto-racing is a risky sport. Drivers use the excuse that they secure these long-term large contracts “just in case” something bad happens, but they know this is a risky business. That’s the risk they take for the big money they earn…..
…..I know a lot of “successful” businesspeople that made a lot more money than I ever did and they are flat broke today. They let their material desires take over. Then when they had to feed their material appetite again, it was a win-at-all costs proposition, which often involved cheating and lying. And somewhere along the way they forgot about the fun of the game they were playing- they’re desire to do the right thing the right way- and got lost on the path of material self-destruction….

……Trust is built and earned over a period of time. It is created through a series of circumstances and principles upheld in those circumstances that make trust believable.
Trust is a personal aspect of success that you never want lose. Don’t yield to the temptations of material gains, instant gratification, or skipping steps in the process of becoming successful. Creating a legacy of trust builds a reputation of integrity.