Every business hits an inflection point at some time in its existence. It doesn’t matter what it makes or who it serves. It hits a difficult period and slumps. The signs when this happens are clear: Customers start drifting away. Suppliers expend minimal effort. And employee morale hits an all-time low.

What surprises management is that they thought everything seemed to be going fine—the business was chugging along steadily for years. Now it’s sagging like a hammock in the rain.

There is a reason for this.

In search for continued success, many businesses lose touch with the foundational elements that fuel their success. They get complacent, expecting the good times to go on forever. They begin to believe that their business success is driven by operational excellence, management capabilities, and a favorable business environment. They forget that true business success depends on one very crucial foundation: People.

Humans who are their customers, their suppliers, and most importantly, their employees. Most businesses think of themselves in narrow terms – we’re a manufacturing, services, creative, transportation, etc., business. What every business needs to realize is they’re actually in the “people” business. The only reason for business to exist is to “create and keep a customer” said Peter Drucker, the most influential business thinker of my generation.

Customers of business are people. Suppliers to business are people. Employees of business are people. Businesses exist only because people serve people.

And the ties that bind these three critical stakeholders of any business is one word:

TRUST.

Customers want the business to deliver on their promises. They will provide loyalty to the business that consistently meets (or preferably) exceeds their expectations.

Suppliers expect the business to appreciate the value they deliver by treating them as true partners that help the business fulfill its promise to their customers.

Employees desire that the business values them and trusts them as passionate advocates and critical drivers to success.

There is a simple equation for trust: Set clear very expectations and then consistently meet and exceed these expectations. Simple to explain, that is, but terribly hard to execute. By leveraging a framework grounded on proven social science principles, ancient wisdom, and modern-day management principles, any company can ignite business growth.

Here’s how each of the three foundational principles work:

• Social sciences help us understand how to analyze not only our own behavior but those of our peers. It also provides insight into creating more effective and inclusive institutions. In the big picture, we can’t pretend that macro environmental factors don’t matter to business. Racism is an unfortunate problem in society; how do you make sure it hasn’t seeped into your business operations in some way? Health care is expensive and can bankrupt people; do your employees have access to a good health plan? And what about your suppliers? Are they being treated fairly?
• The notion that ancient wisdom is relevant to modern business might be startling to you, but there’s an epic Sanskrit Poem, the Mahābhārata that includes the phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam which means “the world is one family.” From that we understand that everyone is connected and deserves the same considerations—customers, suppliers, workers. And that also means that the people sitting in the executive suites can’t hold themselves above the employees in cubicles, the cashiers on the sales floor, or the people hauling boxes on the loading dock. And how about your customers? Do you know how they live, what their needs are?
• Today’s management principles are grounded in the use of technology and analytics. Leveraging data from all aspects of the business; operational and transactional, syndicated, and primary, first party and zero, provides the ability to make fact-based, data-driven decisions needed to shape the desired behaviors in today’s continually reshaping landscape.

To survive and thrive, businesses should focus on the most critical factor of success: People. To win with them, you must earn and retain trust. Trust takes time to build, but it’s fragile and can be destroyed in an instant. But if done right, it can ignite huge transformation for your business.

Written by Zain Raj.

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