“But he promised …” or “she said she had a buyer lined up” are not good excuses in my business for failing to address a borrower’s delinquency. Compassion and reasonable forbearance may be acceptable within reason, but simply taking a borrower’s word for it – particularly when most of our borrowers are real estate speculators – isn’t considered to be very smart business practice.
"Love … always trusts” says 1 Corinthians 13:7. Always? Isn’t that a recipe for being walked all over, being constantly hurt or disappointed, and opening ourselves up to being ripped off by all and sundry? On a business level, it just isn’t how things are done is it? Gone are the days when deals were struck with a handshake and the “word of a gentleman”. So what on earth is Paul talking about?
Perhaps a good place to start is asking whether Jesus took this approach? Did He always trust what was said to Him, or entrust Himself to others? How about John 2:23-25 (emphasis mine)? “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.”
So most likely this isn’t about blind, naïve trust – we need to know what is in a (wo)man. Perhaps Jesus’ statement to the disciples “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16) is helpful. Trusting in this context involves looking for the best, expecting others to be honest and ethical, but still taking the necessary precautions in case they are not.
In business, the precautions involve legal documentation of the consequences of non-performance in a contract. For example, if a borrower doesn’t make the loan payments promised, they stand to lose the property against which they have borrowed. I’ll take a shot at the current residential foreclosures debate in an upcoming Justice @ Work post, but the key here is that it is prudent to in some way insure against dishonesty or failure to keep promises to minimize the damage.
On a personal level, there are precautions we should take too. “Love always trusts” suggests that we should expect the best, but prepare for the worst. Some people have been hurt and disappointed so much that they have become gun-shy, and feel that they’d rather never take the risk of trusting another person. I have been fortunate on the other hand, and have suffered relatively few personal disappointments and as a result tend to assume another person is trustworthy regardless of evidence to the contrary. Either extreme has its dangers. Trust without precautions may be an unnecessary risk, but failure to trust runs all sorts of other risks (failure to build relationships, loss of business opportunities, etc). If we are “shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” we will have our eyes open, and take all reasonable precautions, but at the same time we will believe in the other person and take the risk of allowing them to show their trustworthiness.
With this balance, it is indeed not just possible, but mandatory, for love to always trust.
Graham - this is such a practical post - I had never really caught that scripture about "Jesus not entrusting himself to them." But he of course was no slouch. He was savvy and understood when and where to put himself on the line. Same holds true for us as business leaders - we better have the wisdom and discernment to know when to be vulnerable and trusting, and when to be prudent and cautious. All are biblical. I believe the trust that Paul talks about has more to do with relationships (especially in the church), rather than business dealings.
ReplyDeleteGreat food for thought.
Your logic here reminds me of a conversation I had with a businessman about trust and competition. He said, think of Coach Popovich (of the Spurs).
ReplyDeleteHe trusts his coaching staff and players, and even the coaching staff and players of his opponents. But he doesn't hand out his play book to the second set of people.
Trusting people doesn't mean we set ourselves up to lose the game.
Trust is such a fundamental issue. Our well-being is tied to are ability to develop trust relationships. As you wisely point out trust isn't blind and a healthy mistrust can be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteLike Bradley, I've somehow missed the passage about Jesus not entrusting himself to them. Interesting food for further thought.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explore the dangers of either extreme, blind trusting or failure to trust at all. Well done!
Add me to the list of missing that crucial line in the scripture. It does pack a punch, doesn't it? We must use wisdom when trust is involved.
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