Your personal life is your public life. Your personal life reflects who you really are. If you are in a leadership position, your personal life is open to scrutiny. Your ability to lead others will increase if people respect you. You may not like it, but that is the way it is.
 
Do what you say you will do. How many times has someone told you, "I'll get back to you on that," but never followed up? Don't make promises you can't or won't keep. Trust breaks down when promises are broken.
 
Tell the truth. The worst thing you can do is to not be open and honest with people. Trying to hide information will always catch up with you. Tell people everything they need to know, even if it's bad news. It's better to say too much than too little.
 
Treat everyone with respect. You may not like everyone you work with, but you must treat them as if you do. People want to feel they have value and worth as individuals. Give everyone a chance to improve and attempt to understand and place their interests first.
 
Show appreciation. Surprise people by doing something unexpected for them. When you see one of your employees doing something good, write a note of appreciation or walk up and just tell them. They will appreciate you and trust you more.
 
Avoid favoritism. Don't turn to the same person for help over and over again. Train and develop all your employees so everyone has equal opportunity to prove themselves and the workload is shared equally. 
 
Consistently enforce the rules. Eliminate unnecessary rules, regulations, and policies, and enforce all the rest. When you selectively enforce policies, mistrust increases. No matter how clear the rules seem to you, everyone has a different perception. What appears unnecessary to you is important to someone else. Either enforce it or eliminate it.
 
Treat people as equals. Because of the all of the recently publicized corporate and Wall Street scandals, there will be more pressure on boards and executives to give all employees the same privileges normally reserved for executives. If executives can sell their stock options, why can't other employees? Privileges and perks will be under greater scrutiny by both the media and rank and file.
 
Don't tell jokes at others' expense. Telling jokes is a good way to lower your trust quotient. The most harmless joke will offend someone. Even "Dilbert" cartoons damage the credibility and trustworthiness of management. They create a perception that all managers are incompetent.

Quotes to Inspire