Trust Rules: How the World's Best Managers Create Great Places to Work

I worked for more than fifteen years with executive and senior leaders in a wide variety of organizations around the world, sharing Great Place to Work’s unique insights and ideas to help them develop their own great workplaces. I became intrigued by why, even in the very best workplaces, there were pockets of deep unhappiness—teams for whom the day-to-day workplace experience was very different from that of their colleagues elsewhere in the organization. I came to realize that programs driven from the top or by HR with the intention of improving the overall workplace culture count for little if the manager isn’t strong. In short, if you have a bad manager, you will experience a bad workplace, regardless of your senior leaders’ positive intentions. So, I set out to understand exactly what it is that the best managers are doing right that other managers are doing wrong. I carefully studied feedback from almost two million employees in eighty countries around the world to better understand how great managers build trust, and to identify the manager attitudes and behaviors that have the greatest impact on how employees experience the workplace. I found that, except for some minor variations reflecting national cultural norms, the factors an employee considers when deciding whether or not to trust their boss are much the same the world over, regardless of differences in gender, ethnicity or job role. Ultimately, each of us assess the same factors—reliability, truth, and ability—when making our decision to trust, just like our ancestors have for tens of thousands of years. It’s human nature. And that’s where this book comes in. Our research has identified the crucial trust-building attitudes and behaviors that set the world’s best managers apart from all others. These form the sixteen rules that, when followed, will have the greatest positive impact on your relationship with your employees, ensuring that they experience you as a reliable, truthful, and capable manager. The great news is that the rules are simple and surprisingly easy to live by. In fact, you may already do much of what I suggest in this book, and do it well. That’s what makes you a good manager. But why settle for good when great is within your reach? I’m not asking you to be someone you’re not or to adopt dozens of new practices. Quite the opposite. Instead, I’m challenging you to think differently about how you manage your team. Continue to do most of the things that you already do, fine-tuning them based on the rules. If you feel that a suggestion is good but wouldn’t suit your style or your team’s culture, adapt it so that it feels right for you and them. Some believe that having a successful career means finding the perfect manager and holding on. While that would be great, it’s not how it works. The key to success in your career lies not in finding the perfect manager, but in being the perfect manager. In other words, focus less on trying to find someone great to work for, and more on trying every day to be the type of manager that you yourself would wish to work for. Trust Rules will help you to become the best manager that you can be by sharing evidence-based insights and practical tools used by some of the world’s best managers to build the teams that together form the world’s best workplaces. Take the time to incorporate these trust-building behaviors into your day-to-day management routine and I promise you that the results will be extraordinary and career defining. Tens of thousands of great managers around the world already know that Trust Rules. Are you ready to join them? Great. Let’s get to work.

Robert Levering, cofounder of Great Place to Work says "Here's the book every manager should read. Bob Lee highlights sixteen rules managers should follow to build trust within their teams and organizations. In very clear and straightforward language, Lee encapsulates lessons based on research from Great Place to Work's huge database of employee surveys and best management practices and his more than fifteen years of interviewing managers."

McKinsey's Michael Burchell - expert, organization solutions - writes that "Trust Rules provides succinct, smart, practical guidance on how to create a high-trust, high-performing workplace. Every manager should read this book and refer to it often."

And Alex Edmans, professor of finance at London Business School and a leading authority on the superior financial performance of the world's best workplaces says "We all know that creating a great place to work is critical to a company's long-term success, but how do managers actually accomplish this? Bob Lee's book provides sixteen clear, concise principles and guidance for how to apply them to build employee trust in any...organization."

Other Reviews include ....

"Bob Lee has written a book that is badly needed. A book which (at last) really helps managers at all levels to do their job well. Lee's book takes all the academic mumbo jumbo and consultant bullshit out of leadership and presents leadership as it should be--plain and simple human-to-human interaction. Trust Rules offers easy and actionable guidelines for every manager to act on. A big plus is its length: there's not a single sentence too much. It's easy and fun to read, so it's also ideal for the managers who don't usually read books. Bringing the concept of trust into the heart of leadership is a wise and well-grounded decision, because without trust, leaders have nothing."
--Panu Luukka, founder and corporate culture designer, Leidenschaft

"The goal of creating a great company culture can sometimes feel daunting. Bob Lee's Trust Rules breaks the process down into easy to understand management practices that can be applied on a daily basis to improve the work environment. It is a book that not only gives an immediate jolt of inspiration but also serves as a reference guide with practical ideas and reminders."
--Erin Moran, chief culture officer, Union Square Hospitality Group

"An informative and easy read. Being relatively new to the world of management, I recommend diving headfirst into this book. Everyone constructs their own management style--if you are in search of yours, you'll find inspiration and clear direction within these pages."
--Luke Taaffe, front office manager, Clontarf Castle Hotel

"Trust Rules is a practical guide for managers at any stage of their career. In our ever-changing workplace it is inspiring to read a book that teaches managers how to lead in a way that embraces the enduring values that build and maintain extraordinary workplaces."
--Cheryl Naja, director of pro bono and community service, Alston & Bird

"I love Bob's approach to leadership. Trust Rules is a breath of fresh air, a set of simple, pragmatic rules to govern the relationship between leaders and teams based on the principles of respect, kindness, decency, and positivity. A rare thing!"
--Colum Slevin, entertainment and technology executive

"Credit Bob Lee for creating one of the most insightful road maps for how to effectively build trust in the workplace and win the hearts and minds of employees. The sixteen rules presented in his book are a treasury of practical and valuable guiding principles that will nurture a more healthy, enjoyable, and productive work environment. Trust Rules is a compelling and useful book for anyone who wishes to become not just a good manager but an excellent manager who aims to build a great place to work and deliver exceptional business results. Trust rules!"
--Ramiro Garces, global HR consultant, employee engagement expert and speaker

"Bob Lee generously shares the playbook on how to become a world-class manager. Full of insightful and actionable items leaders can start using today, Trust Rules provides all the tools necessary to manage today's dynamic and diverse workforce at the highest levels."
--Alex Chung, author of Highest Success

"This book is full of energy. You'll learn in simple terms what it takes to form relationships, build high trust, and create high-performance teams. Reading this book is 'one simple thing' you can do to immediately start improving your leadership skills."
--Colin Wallace, head of HR services, Europe, Sanofi

"Lee has written a practical and informative guide for managers. Trust Rules is a quick, easy read that provides excellent insight into what it takes to build the great manager-employee relationships that drive productivity."
--Cindy Ventrice, author of Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works

"Trust Rules fills a void, a most readable introduction to building the solid trusting employee relationships that are the cornerstone of truly engaging organizational cultures. Any leader who aspires to develop such relationships and cultures will find invaluable guidance in its pages."
--Colin Curran, vice president of HR global operations, Teleflex

"No matter what industry or sector you are working in, trust is a key success factor for managers. In Trust Rules, Bob Lee guides the reader through sixteen simple and effective trust-creating rules based on practical, no-nonsense insights. Each rule is backed up with perceptive and intuitive descriptions of how to get the best from yourself, from your teams, and ultimately from your business. This is a must-have guide for any manager who wants to develop personally and professionally and to build authentic, high-trust, impactful, and lasting relationships. In Lee's own words, "real success begins with knowing who you really are."
--Gary Keegan, London Business School guest lecturer, high-performance expert and leadership consultant

"Trust Rules highlights how important it is for managers to reflect on their own practices and be conscious of the impact these practices have on their teams. It's a good toolkit to remind us that, fundamentally, management is about treating people with respect and showing care."
--Caroline Texier, EMEA program manager, Dell EMC

"Trust Rules hits the mark in a simple, no-nonsense way--I loved it! Bob's book is for managers, leaders, and executives. Mostly, though, it's for people. People who understand that being good and decent are prerequisites for leading others. His rules fit with the Great Place to Work model like a tight glove, and they serve as critical reminders of the simple, though often forgotten principles of good leadership."
--Hal Adler, CEO, Leadership Landing