Choosing a VPN solution requires a leap of faith. Once you choose the application that best suits your needs in terms of performance, licensing and usability, you need to hand over something far more valuable than your money - trust. That's why the lawsuit against the creators of Hotspot Shield VPN is a big deal.
"Trust, success and admiration are earned." That's the lesson in the quote above from investment expert Charlie Munger. As simple as it is, it bears repeating.
First impressions matter and being approachable is more important than coming across as competent when you meet someone new in your workplace, according to a Harvard Business School professor. This can have a lasting impact on your career.
Whether you're selling a product, giving a speech, or just trying to make new friends, it can be hard to gain someone's trust when you're an utter stranger to them. Fast Company explains that, ultimately, it's about finding a balance between being human and being credible.
There's more to being honest than simply never telling a lie. If you want to build trust with those around you, be ready to share information that you don't necessarily have to.
The 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch follows the plight of a faithful husband who must endeavor to resist the charms of a vampy neighbour played by Marilyn Monroe while his wife and son are away on holidays. In the end he resists temptation, but new research suggests his wife would have forgiven him anyway.
I've been a journalist for almost two decades, so I've had plenty of time to get used to the fact that the general public think journos are scum. A survey conducted by Reader's Digest suggests that taxi drivers, door-to-door salespeople and sex workers can join me on the less-respected professions list in Australia.
There's few surprises in the latest list of Australia's most-trusted brands: Apple, Google and IKEA rate highly, while Qantas, Kodak and Dymocks aren't doing so well. That's interesting news for marketers, but consumers should remember a more fundamental lesson: just because you think a brand is trustworthy doesn't mean you shouldn't examine and question what it does.
Researchers at UC Berkeley have discovered that being embarrassed -- or even just acting embarrassed -- convinces others that you're more trustworthy. In both videotapes and photographs, observers who witnessed a person act embarrassed possibly underwent an empathy response, "creating their own contexts" to put themselves in the other person's mindset, thus heightening acceptance of the subject.
