Finally, empires of trust are built one ordinary moment at a time: returning the overpaid change, citing sources accurately, keeping confidences, refusing convenient gossip. Begin small, repeat often, and let others count on the pattern. As the habit sticks, your personal “jurisdiction” expands—people bring you harder problems and grant you wider influence. In this way, the “small court” convenes daily, and each honorable verdict quietly extends the borders of what you can be trusted to lead. [...]
