Why trust is built in the field not the boardroom

In the West, trust often begins with capability: “Show me what you can do, and I’ll believe in you.” But in Japan, it starts with character: “Let me understand who you are, then I’ll trust what you do.” At monoya, we’ve felt this difference deeply. When we first started engaging with Japanese partners, we expected our portfolio and success stories to do the talking. They didn’t. Meetings were polite but reserved. Decisions moved slowly. Then we shifted gears—less pitching, more listening. We invested in relationships. We showed up consistently. We respected silence and patience. Over time, trust started to build—not because we talked about our work, but because we shared our values. One moment that stands out: a partner told us, “What mattered wasn’t your proposal—it was how you carried yourself.” That stuck with us. In Japan, trust isn’t built in the boardroom—it’s built in the in-between moments: over dinner, during shared silences, through consistent follow-ups. It’s relational, not transactional. For global teams entering Japan, remember: trust here is earned slowly, but it’s rock-solid once it’s there. Have you experienced this cultural shift in trust-building? I’d love to hear your thoughts. #Trust #JapanBusiness #CulturalInsights #monoya #CrossCulturalLeadership

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲. We once had to shut down four city blocks in downtown Phoenix for a private Macklemore concert. On the surface, it sounds like logistics. In reality, it was about trust. It took a month meeting with city departments, knocking on doors, and listening to city employees who mostly wanted to help the public, get a paycheck and benefits, plus not lose their job. Each had their own concerns: safety, traffic, liability or what would their boss do to them. Instead of pushing my agenda, I focused on their pain points and showed that I understood what mattered to them.  After the month of planning, we started at 2:15 the morning of the concert, to set up - they would not let us close the roads, then I convinced them it was okay, after the bars closed. That’s how you move big, complicated projects forward. Not with pressure. Not with shortcuts, instead - by giving people confidence that you see them, hear them, and will protect their interests (if nothing else, that they won’t get fired, their kids will be okay and life will be good). The principle is simple. 𝐈𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. Whether you’re closing a deal, running a campaign, or trying to get four blocks of a city to shut down, the foundation is the same: trust built through listening. What’s one way you’ve built trust in a tough negotiation? #Trust #Negotiation #DealMaking #TILTTheRoom #MediaLaw #Macklemore Christopher Voss Kwame Christian, Esq., M.A. Alexandra Carter Dr. Robert Cialdini Scott Tillema

Brands aren’t built in boardrooms. They’re built one frontline interaction at a time. Some of the strongest brand lessons don’t come from boardrooms. They come from the shop floor. Walked into a retail store last week, everything looked just right. Clean layout, strong visual branding, well-stocked shelves. One store assistant was fantastic, helpful, intuitive, present. She made the experience feel warm, even premium. But just a few steps away, someone else at the billing counter barely looked up. No acknowledgment. No closure. And just like that, the entire brand impression shifted. A few days later, I grabbed a bite at a quick-service restaurant. Simple place, nothing fancy. But every person, from the one taking the order to the one handing over the tray was aligned. Smiling, responsive, quick. You could sense pride in what they were doing. And it showed. Note to self, again and again… Brands don’t live in strategy decks or campaign lines. They live in people. And more often than not, it’s the frontline who defines how a customer feels about the brand. They’re not the last mile. They are the face, the voice, the moment that stays with the customer. Which is why we cannot afford to leave them out of the story. We can’t just train them on what to do. We have to share #why it matters. Why they are so critical to the overall brand story! Why their role isn’t just operational, but emotional. Why they carry the brand in their tone, their eyes, their choices. And why they have the power to shape trust, loyalty, and love for the brand. Because if they don’t feel it, the customer never will. As leaders, we must invest in them, not just with skills, but with belief. That’s where brand-building truly begins.

Pitching a drone to an Army General isn’t the same as pitching to a Farmer. And explaining AI to a Ministry official? Not even close to convincing an FPO to adopt it. Same product. Same specs. COMPLETELY different conversations. That’s when it hit me👇 You’re not pitching tech. You’re translating problems into possibilities. Over the past year, I’ve had the rare chance to sit across the table from: -> FPO leaders — with decades of hands-on farming wisdom but zero (or minimal) exposure to emerging tech. -> Ministry officials — looking for scalable pilots that align with national missions. -> Army generals — who care about precision, real-time intelligence, and zero failure tolerance. And here’s what I learned — the hard way: 1. Speak THEIR language. Not yours. Farmers don’t care about “machine learning.” They ask: “Can I spray 10 acres before sunset?” Ministries don’t want a PDF of features. They want a one-liner on how this fits into a national scheme. The Army doesn’t ask for AI. They want real-time video, autonomous nav, and zero compromise. If your tech doesn't answer their question, it won’t matter how cool it is. 2. Trust > Technology. No one buys because your pitch was smart. They buy because your intention felt honest. I’ve won more ground with a muddy field demo than a polished deck. Trust is built in the trenches...not the boardroom. 3. Simplicity wins. Every. Single. Time. If your grandma doesn’t get it, neither will the Gram Panchayat head. I’ve seen founders lose the room trying to sound smart. The smartest ones? They explain a product in 60 seconds — no jargon, no fluff. 4. Impact > Innovation. A drone that saves 6 hours of labor will always beat one with 64 fancy features no one understands. Solve a pain. Not just a problem. Here’s what I now believe with conviction: Tech doesn’t sell itself. It earns trust through relevance, relationships, and results. The field is your best focus group. Your sharpest critic. Your most honest mirror. So whether you're building for rural India, defense, or ministries: 📌 Start with their pain. 📌 Solve for their need. 📌 And leave your jargon at the door. If you’ve ever struggled to explain what you built to someone outside your bubble — I see you. Let’s build tech that speaks the language of real people.

If you want to build trust in HR Start remembering what no one told you to She never followed up Never brought it up again Just mentioned, once, that her child was going into surgery next week Thirty days passed Then I sent a one-line message “Hey, how’s your little one doing?” She responded like I handed her $1,000 And then said… “I didn’t think anyone would remember” Here’s the thing Trust isn’t built in the policy doc Or the onboarding deck Or the culture manifesto It’s built when people feel seen without having to wave their hands It’s built when you clock the passing comment, and circle back later It’s built when remembering becomes part of your leadership hygiene That kind of HR doesn’t scale But it compounds No AI. No workflow. No CRM. Just attention Real attention is a retention strategy Most companies are starving for it :) #LeadershipThatListens #HRRealTalk #QuietRetention #ThisIsHR #UnscalableMoves

The most important transformation happening in business today isn't about technology. It's about trust. For two years, I've watched something extraordinary unfold in our organization. Not because we mandated it, but because we created space for it. We started with a simple belief: no one can fully understand the opportunity for AI to improve the work better than the people doing the work. So instead of rolling out AI from the top down, we opened an "i-use-ai" channel and invited our team to share what they were building. What emerged wasn't immediate efficiency or productivity gains- though those did come. What emerged was something deeper- creativity. A manager who transforms team feedback into structured leadership insights using AI frameworks. A technical consultant who reimagined how we deliver network configurations. A marketplace specialist who built AI that thinks like our best deal desk expert. Each of these innovations came from someone who saw a problem they cared about solving. Someone who felt safe to experiment, to fail, to try again.This is what I've come to understand about AI transformation: It's not about the technology we implement. It's about the culture we cultivate. Companies that succeed create environments of continuous learning, adaptability, and collaboration. They invest in their people's capacity to grow alongside the tools. The stakes couldn't be higher. Organizations that get this right won't just improve their operations—they'll fundamentally change what's possible for their people and their customers. We call this "Frontline AI," and I believe it's how every meaningful transformation actually happens. Not from boardrooms or mandates, but from the ground up. From people who care enough to build something better. The future belongs to organizations that trust their people to lead change. I've seen it work. I believe in it deeply. And I believe your people are ready for it too.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as a CEO in the recruiting world is this: business is personal. Sure, we have targets, pipelines, forecasts, and metrics. But behind every deal, every signed offer letter, and every new client is a relationship that someone took the time to build. Early in my career, I chased transactions. I was focused on closing deals fast, moving on to the next. And while that hustle helped me grow, it was relationships that built something lasting. When you invest in connections, people remember. They remember who checked in when they weren’t hiring. Who shared market insights without asking for a contract. Who took the time to understand their pain points instead of delivering a cookie cutter pitch. That’s how trust is built. And trust is the real currency of sales, especially in recruiting, where people are making huge decisions about their careers and businesses are betting on the right talent. Some of our best clients today started as casual conversations months (or years) before they ever signed on. And guess what? Those relationships bring in repeat business, referrals, and partnerships that go far beyond one transaction. So if you’re in sales or honestly, any business my advice is this: slow down enough to invest in people. Be curious. Be helpful even when there’s no immediate payoff. Sales will follow. And those sales will mean more because they’re built on real connections, not just contracts. #Sales #Recruiting #Relationships #Leadership

Success Doesn’t Move at the Speed of Scale It moves at the speed of trust. 🤝 When Climate Cardinals began, our team didn’t come with a polished résumé or a list of accolades. We came with conviction—an unshakable belief that language shouldn’t be a barrier to climate education—and a willingness to learn everything we didn’t yet know. We didn’t have institutional backing. There were no major donors. No established infrastructure. Just a $500 budget, a shared Google Classroom, and a group of young people across time zones who believed we could build something that mattered. We reached out to organizations who never replied. So we translated the materials ourselves. We set up review systems, trained volunteers, created workflows—and just kept going. We didn’t wait for permission. ✨ We trusted each other, and we started anyway. Over time, the work began to grow. Our partnerships expanded. Our reach deepened. But that growth didn’t come from prestige or polish. It came from trust. 🌀 Trust that young people—often underestimated—could lead. 🌀 Trust that mission was more important than ego. 🌀 Trust that showing up with care, over and over again, could build something lasting. Some of the most meaningful work I’ve been part of didn’t begin in boardrooms or formal planning sessions. It began in late-night calls, shared notes, voice memos, and spontaneous “What if we tried this?” moments. That’s what I’ve come to think of as relational infrastructure—the invisible scaffolding that holds purpose-driven work together. It’s not flashy and it doesn’t always fit into slides. However, trust and relations are everything.

When I think back to the most meaningful founder conversations I’ve had, very few of them were in boardrooms. They didn’t start with pitch decks or spreadsheets. They started with cutting chai at a tapri. On long evening walks after a tough day. Or even while playing a casual game of cricket. Because that’s when people drop their guard. That’s when you get to know the person, not just the founder. And that’s exactly what gave birth to ISPL (Indian Startup Premier League). I’ve seen firsthand how energy, camaraderie, and trust build faster in informal spaces. A founder who’s strategizing his batting order is the same one who’s figuring out his GTM. An investor cheering for a six is the same one who might back you tomorrow. I’ve sat through hundreds of formal pitches. They’re important, yes—but they don’t always show you the founder’s spark, their energy, or their ability to think on their feet. On the cricket pitch, it’s different. A founder planning his batting order is the same founder who’s planning his GTM. An investor cheering for a six is the same investor who might back you tomorrow. Networking doesn’t need to be stiff. It can be human. Fun. Real.That’s what ISPL is all about. Season 3 is coming soon. More cricket. More conversations. More chances to build connections that last.