Don't Blindly Trust - Everyone Has a Price

Trust is a precious commodity in relationships, business, and life. We all want to see the good in people and believe others will treat us fairly. But blind trust can leave you vulnerable. Under the right circumstances, even trusted friends can betray you.  Everyone in this world has a price, never ever forget that, at the right price they can switch sides, this is just to remind you that you are all alone and should make decision knowing this in a mannner that if someone were to turn against you, you would understand and see it from a distance. 

I learned this lesson the hard way early in my career. I had partnered with a longtime friend on a business venture. We were equals in the business and split things 50/50. Since we had known each other for years, I didn't think twice about trusting him completely. 

But greed has a way of corrupting even the closest bonds. As the business became successful, I started noticing money going missing. Checks and balances I had put in place were being circumvented. When I confronted my friend, he made excuses and tried to placate me. But the trust between us was broken.

Eventually I realized he had been embezzling from the business. He apologized and claimed it would never happen again. But the damage was already done. I dissolved the partnership and bought him out. I never saw or spoke to him again.

This experience taught me that you should never implicitly trust anyone in business or personal matters. Even if you’ve known someone for years, money and success changes people. Everyone has a price under the right circumstances.

That’s not to say you should be paranoid and distrust everyone. But you should put checks and balances in place, especially with money. And pay attention to red flags that could signal issues like greed, dishonesty or shifting loyalties.

Protect yourself by diversifying partnerships, separating financial controls, and having solid contracts. Hire ethical people, but verify and watch for any suspicious behavior. Think twice before trusting confidential information or business assets to others.  

Betrayals may still happen, but you can mitigate risks. Not everyone deserves your blind trust. Friendships and business partnerships require mutual accountability. Proceed with cautious optimism instead of naive belief in others’ good intentions. Making smart decisions about trust now can save you from massive pain down the road.

The key is not be so paranoid about everyone for you have to give trust in order to get some back, the point is not to be naive, hide your observation before you can fully trust anyone and always keep checking if still in place.  As for me, i have no problem doing business with a person who i know i can't trust, this helps me put my own safe guards in place, if things were to go south, i would still have my parachute ready. 

"Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies. Friends are more likely to betray you in haste as they are more prone to envy. However, if you hire a former enemy, they will prove themselves more trustworthy, as they have more to prove. Consequently, you have more to fear from friends than your enemies."

 - Robert Greene. (I will later write a blog post on this law by Robert Greene)