People are intrinsically good

Those who know me and follow me know that I am deeply grounded in experience, numbers, facts, science, as well as decades of first-hand experience in business and leadership. Today, I share one message for you to consider from all of that experience, and it is this:

People are intrinsically good.

I often say: “Leadership is about People. End of Story”. Well, all relationships between people are founded on Trust.

People are intrinsically good. Start from that belief and you will trust people more. Similarly, if governments start from that place they will trust people more, then the vast majority of those people will act self-responsibly.

Right now we have a trust gap between governments and their people, so this week I am writing about the need to choose to trust your people, so far writing: “Trust your people to be responsible” and “Trusting people is the only way“. I am hammering home the message. Please do read each piece, though, as they come at the issue in different ways.

Today, something different, a story of what happened when six boys were stranded for over a year on a desert island. It is not what you may think if you read Lord of the Flies.

Instead, our story begins (bold highlights my own):

For centuries western culture has been permeated by the idea that humans are selfish creatures. That cynical image of humanity has been proclaimed in films and novels, history books and scientific research. But in the last 20 years, something extraordinary has happened. Scientists from all over the world have switched to a more hopeful view of mankind. This development is still so young that researchers in different fields often don’t even know about each other.

Rutger Bregman, writing in The Guardian, May 9th 2020

People are intrinsically good.

Belief in the good of people leads to the choice to trust them, then to their self-responsibility to apply common sense and follow laws, rules, guidelines.

Trust is the only way through this.