By Jeff Gaus
This post is inspired by Thomas Friedman’s most recent piece in the New York Times
Opinion | America, China and a Crisis of Trust - The New York Times. This should be required reading for every American citizen. You’ll understand once you’ve read it.
Friedman posits the reason for our disagreement(s) with China – which likely may escalate to war – are based on a lack of Trust.
Yes, you read that right: our Nation does not trust theirs, and they don’t trust us. Period.
This lack of trust is everywhere: we don’t trust our media, government, business, academic, and commercial institutions; oftentimes with good reason. This is the message I delivered to the United States’ Attorneys General Alliance (AGA) at a Privacy, Blockchain, and Crypto conference recently. I reminded the group the whole reason Bitcoin was created: people have lost faith in our institutions, in particular Central Banks.
Trust is built through transparency; and to have transparency, one must be transparent. It really is a team sport. It is intentional, it is a mindset, it is a culture, it is a way of life. And it’s becoming an expectation, a feature. It will become table stakes for commerce in the future because it’s: National Security, Sustainability, and Consumer Protection.
Friend Richie Etwaru says it best with his quote:
“Every organization faces disruption by a trusted version of itself.”
The article arrived during a strategy meeting with our founders, investors, and advisors and it couldn’t have been timelier. Friedman’s article and Etwaru’s quote affirm our company’s purpose: Building Trust Through Commercial Transparency. Everyday I find a new application for The Commercial Trust™ Protocol.