The Building Blocks of Trust

This issue of Pillow Talk, our weekly newsletter, went out by email on August 14, 2025. Get the next one.

Hey friend,

Welcome to the 11th weekly edition of Pillow Talk! This is where I share my personal thoughts on property management topics.

This week, I’m talking about the building blocks of trust.

Last week’s Pillow Talk explored how trust is the product of relationships, meaning you can’t build any trust without first building some sort of relationship.

Once you have a relationship established, is that enough? Will trust organically begin to build and build until one day you wake up to a list of loyal clients who actually take your advice?

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. And as many of you already know, it’s way easier to lose trust than to gain it. That’s why building (and keeping) trust requires an arduous, long-term commitment to two things:

1. Integrity. Do you tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth, no matter what, to everyone in your life? Even when it hurts you? That takes a high level of integrity (which Rentvine says is what owners value most).
2. Execution. Can you actually deliver preferred outcomes at least 90% of the time? Plenty of people are honest and moral, but can barely tie their shoes. As much as you like them, you may not be able to trust them. Being able to follow through, regardless of whether you feel like it, or if the owner is acting like a jerk, or if you accidentally over-committed, is what real execution looks like.

Don’t take my word for it

Highly-respected organizations say similar things.

When doing some research for this email, I came across an awesome article put out by the US Army Directorate Of Prevention, Resilience And Readiness. It shares five building blocks that commanders can use to build trust within their teams:

1. Reliability. Consistence in quality of achievement, accuracy, or performance
2. Honesty. Be free from deceit or fraud, and honorable in principles, intentions, and actions.
3. Good will. Act in good faith, show kindness and a desire to help others
4. Competency. Possess the required skill, knowledge, or qualifications
5. Openness. Be vulnerable and receptive to outside knowledge

According to the article, you can build a culture of trust by practicing one or more of these five building blocks.

Good night 😴

Lior Abramovich
Co-founder, CEO