Trust Me! A New Book Unlocks the Real Power of Trust in Leadership and Negotiation

A comprehensive and accessible guide that explores trust through psychology, philosophy, economics and real negotiation practice.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, November 24, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As global trust reaches historic lows — in governments, companies, institutions, media and personal relationships — a new book argues that the erosion of trust is not only a social crisis, but an economic, psychological and leadership emergency. In TRUST ME! A 360-Degree Overview of the Concept of Trust, negotiation and leadership expert Eduard Beltran offers one of the most complete, multidisciplinary and accessible explorations of trust published in recent years, blending philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics and two decades of real-world practice in more than sixty countries.

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2024, trust has declined in 22 of the 28 countries surveyed, particularly in institutional leadership and corporate decision-making. For Beltran, this is not a temporary deviation but a structural warning: societies, companies and teams cannot function without trust because trust is the hidden infrastructure that holds everything together. “A leader without trust is just someone giving orders no one believes,” he says. “Trust is not soft. Trust is the operating system of human cooperation.”

The book opens by tracing the historical and conceptual roots of trust, from the Roman confidentia to modern behavioural science. Beltran explains that trust is the human response to uncertainty — a psychological mechanism that allows individuals and groups to move forward despite risk, vulnerability or imperfect information. He explores why humans need trust to collaborate, negotiate, communicate and simply coexist, and how quickly trust can break when expectations are not met.

From there, TRUST ME! moves into the social and institutional dimensions of trust. Beltran shows how societies with high levels of generalised trust are more prosperous, innovative and resilient, while societies with low trust experience slower growth, higher conflict and institutional fragility. He draws on research in sociology and economics to demonstrate how trust functions as social capital and why it is one of the strongest predictors of long-term economic development.

One of the book’s most practical contributions is its analysis of interpersonal trust. Beltran explains how trust is created between individuals — through predictability, coherence, empathy, transparency and clarity — and why these elements matter in leadership, teamwork and negotiation. He illustrates how misunderstandings, ambiguity or emotional pressure can destroy trust in minutes, and offers behavioural strategies to build it deliberately rather than intuitively. His approach is grounded in real cases from corporate life, diplomacy, crisis management and training sessions with leaders and executives.
The book also addresses the fragility of trust and the challenge of rebuilding it. Beltran explores why trust is so easily lost and outlines a structured path for regaining credibility after mistakes, conflicts or broken promises. Through real examples, he shows how trust can be reconstructed when leaders take responsibility, communicate with honesty and act consistently over time.

In one of its most timely chapters, TRUST ME! examines trust in the digital age. Beltran argues that technology has created new forms of risk and opacity: misinformation, algorithmic bias, data uncertainty, and relationships mediated through screens. He explains why trust must be redesigned for a world where human interactions depend on systems that people do not see and often do not understand. “Digital transformation is not just about tools,” he writes. “It is about rebuilding trust in invisible processes.”

Ultimately, TRUST ME! positions trust as the essential driver of leadership, decision-making and organisational performance. Beltran argues that companies do not run on strategy or technology alone — they run on the level of trust that exists among their people. When trust is high, decisions accelerate, communication improves, innovation appears and teams collaborate. When trust is low, everything slows down: meetings multiply, conflicts escalate, uncertainty dominates and even the best strategies fail.
Eduard Beltran is an international negotiation expert, lawyer and executive educator. He has trained more than 15,000 professionals across 60 countries and advises global companies, governments and international institutions. His work blends behavioural science, philosophy and strategic communication to help leaders build trust and navigate complex environments.

TRUST ME! A 360-Degree Overview of the Concept of Trust is available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook editions.

Olivia Evans
CEFNE
info@cefne.com