"Trust flows from individuals, not organizations." That's the best summary I can provide of David Horsager's hot new book, "The Trust Edge -- How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships and a Stronger Bottom Line."

Why is this book so valuable? The topic couldn't be timelier. In my opinion, the most important five-letter word in the English language is spelled T-R-U-S-T. It's so critical, publisher Simon & Schuster's Free Press has made "The Trust Edge" its leading business book this fall, with a publication date of Oct. 9.

Want another reason why I think it's so important? I know Dave Horsager, and I trust him! He is the perfect author for a book on this topic. He has been studying the topic for 10 years, and we can all benefit from his research.

Let me give you a sample of his wisdom: "Trust defined -- Trust is the confident belief in an entity:

-- To do what is right

-- To deliver what is promised,

-- To be the same every time, regardless of circumstances."

I can't imagine a person staying in business very long without trust from every angle. Your customers have to be able to trust you. Your employees must trust you. Your vendors must trust you. Even your competitors must trust you. It's that simple. If any of those relationships break down, close your doors and find another way to make a living.

Horsager says, "Without trust, the transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose teams. Without trust, organizations lose productivity, relationships, reputation, talent retention, customer loyalty, creativity, morale, revenue and results."

As he was studying top organizations and leaders, Horsager found that some had a clear advantage over others. "Those leaders or organizations that could weather storms, charge higher prices, maintain respect with customers and clients, and foster long-term growth were special," Horsager writes. "The greatest leaders and organizations of all time have had the same competitive edge. They were trusted."

He confirms what I have learned over my decades in business: Trust doesn't happen overnight. "While it may appear to be static, trust is more like a forest -- a long time growing, but easily burned down with a touch of carelessness," he says.

Several years back I wrote about a study by Forum Corporation, which Horsager also cites as evidence of the importance of trust. Using hundreds of salespeople from 11 companies in five different industries, the investigators found that the unique trait of top producers was honesty -- not charisma, ability or knowledge.

For as long as I have been in business, I have believed that the most charming, most educated, most technically astute sales- and businesspeople will be abject failures unless all those traits are wrapped in honesty. When we trust people, we are optimistic not only that they are competent to do what we trust them to do, but also that they are committed to doing it. They will be totally honest with a customer even when it is difficult or potentially costly. Their reputations are more important than any deal.

In that spirit, Horsager has identified the eight pillars of trust that are key attributes of successful leaders: clarity, compassion, character, competency, commitment, connection, contribution and consistency. He includes terrific advice and even study questions to drive home every point. In other words, as Horsager says, "The Trust Edge is the competitive advantage gained when others confidently believe in you!"

"The Trust Edge" is extremely well organized, with terrific and easily relatable examples, providing convincing support for his points. Useful graphics like tabbed pages lead you to specific chapters and sections, and also remind you on every page of the eight pillars of trust.

This book has arrived not a moment too soon for the trust crisis we are facing in the world. Developing and cultivating trust is fundamental to a successful business, personal relationship or even a functional government. Trust me, if you follow David Horsager's advice, you'll have an unbeatable edge.

Mackay's Moral: Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing to do.

Ken Blanchard believes corporate America is in desperate need of a different leadership role model. And I couldn't agree more.

Ken is a walking management encyclopedia: He's written 50 books with more than 90 contributing authors. His blockbuster book, "The One Minute Manager," has sold 13 million copies around the world. He has a practical, no-nonsense style that I love.

Ken has been a good friend for years. In fact, I owe a lot of my book-writing success to Ken because he's the one who asked me to write a book with him before I decided to author "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive" back in 1988.

While most leaders think that leadership is in your head, Ken thinks effective leadership starts in the heart. Your heart controls your motivation, your intent and your leadership character.

I invited Ken to speak to my Roundtable group of 30 CEOs. His memorable message was that the No. 1 leadership style around the world today is "seagull management." He explained: "Managers might set goals and then disappear until you screw up. Then they fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everybody and fly out. They think that's great leadership."

He compared what he calls self-serving leaders to servant leaders and mentioned three main differences.

The first difference is feedback. If you've ever tried to give negative feedback up the hierarchy of a self-serving leadership team, you know the difference. You get destroyed.

Self-serving leaders thrive in critical environments, whereas servant leaders prefer supportive environments.

Ken said: "I travel around the world, and I'll say to people, 'How do you know whether you're doing a good job?' The No. 1 response I still get is, 'Nobody's yelled at me lately.'"

He went on to say that if he could teach only one thing, it would be to develop great relationships. He advised that to develop great organizations, you have to wander around and catch people doing the right things and then praise them in front of everyone.

The second major difference is that self-serving leaders don't want anyone else to look really good, while servant leaders want to build leadership in their group. They have no problem with someone rising up. They don't mind sharing leadership.

My philosophy is you'd be amazed at how much you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit. I also believe that three opinions are better than two and five are better than four.

The third difference is ego. "Self-serving leaders are caught in the trap that they think their self-worth is a function of their performance plus the opinion of others," Ken said. "They have this scorekeeping system. The only way they can keep going is they've got to get more. Their scorekeeping centers around three things: accumulation of wealth, recognition/power and status."

Ken advises that there is nothing wrong with accumulating money, getting recognized or having some power and status. "What's wrong is if that's who you think you are, because then your self-worth is tied up there, and you're going to have to keep on performing," he said. "That's why people have to keep on accumulating more and more and take huge bonuses when that money could be spent in other ways."

Servant leaders define self-worth differently. They are comfortable in their skin. Ken cautions that this doesn't mean they don't have some weaknesses. They know that their positions are not a given. Their job and possessions are on loan and can be taken away at a moment's notice.

Our egos can interfere in two ways, Ken cautions. One is false pride, when you think more of yourself than you should and your main job is to promote yourself. The other is self-doubt or fear, when you think less of yourself than you should.

The antidote for fear and self-doubt is self-pride and self-esteem, whereas the antidote for false pride is humility, which Ken believes is another important characteristic of a leader.

"A lot of people have this image that people who are humble are weak," Ken said. "People with humility don't think less of themselves, they just think about themselves less. That's really a powerful thing."

Mackay's Moral: None of us is as smart as all of us.

I hate to lose.

That said, I am proud to admit that competition has made me a better businessman, a better golfer and a better person. And when there isn't another company or business to compete with, I try to outdo myself. If that sounds simple, well, it is. I always want to be at my best and show my best side.

People can exceed expectations when motivated properly. This story, told by Andrew S. Grove, former CEO of the Intel Corp., the California manufacturer of semiconductors, is a perfect illustration.

For years the performance of the Intel facilities maintenance group, which is responsible for keeping the buildings clean and in good shape, was substandard. No amount of pressure or inducement seemed to do any good.

Then Intel initiated a program in which each building's upkeep was periodically given a score by a resident senior manager. The score was then compared with those given the other buildings. Result: The condition of all of the buildings improved dramatically -- almost immediately. Nothing else had been done. People did not get more money or other rewards. What they did get was the stimulus of competition.

Competition drives performance. It drives people to work harder and dig deeper to deliver more than they ever thought they could.

Among the many benefits of increased market competition, according to the tutor2u website:

-- Lower prices for consumers.

-- A greater discipline on producers/suppliers to keep their costs down.

-- Improvements in technology with positive effects on production methods and costs.

-- A greater variety of products from which to choose.

-- A faster pace of invention and innovation.

-- Improvements to the quality of service for consumers.

-- Better information for consumers, allowing people to make more informed choices.

There's nothing like a little competition to boost productivity. Look at industry studies and you will consistently see that competition helped improve results.

I am and have always been very competitive. I understand that some people don't like competition, but you have to accept that competition is unavoidable in life. That's the way our society works. It's my belief that our society improves with competition.

Some parents don't want to engage their young children in competition. I understand their reluctance in situations where unrealistic expectations are set, but friendly competition is good. It is critical to prepare children and teenagers to compete in the real world. As they grow older, they will face competition in schools, in the workforce, even in the housing market.

A University of Florida study found that participating in sports is a healthy way to teach kids about the positive aspects of competition. Playing sports helps kids understand how competition works in a friendly environment and that if you try your hardest, you have a better chance at succeeding, not to mention improving your health and self-esteem.

When I was in London at the Olympics, I heard an interviewer ask an athlete to predict the outcome of his race.

The athlete said, "I'll come in fifth."

Sure enough, that's exactly where he finished, even though he could easily have placed third, or even second, since two other major competitors fared poorly.

Contrast this with Manteo Mitchell, who broke his leg midway through the 4-x-400 meter relay but kept running to allow the U.S. team to reach the final.

I cannot emphasize enough that all my business life I have faced competition, and I believe it has made both my company and me better. When competitors improve their products, we improve ours more. When a sales prospect mentions service, I ask what the other company promised them and then exceed it. We know our customers better here at MackayMitchell Envelope Co. It's our real leg up on the competition. We hate to lose a customer. We take tremendous pride in beating the competition, because that means we are serving our customers better.

There is an old saying in Africa that goes like this: Every morning a gazelle gets up and knows that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will get eaten. And every morning, a lion gets up and knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

So, whether you are a gazelle or a lion, every morning when you get up, you'd better be running.

Mackay's Moral: If you go the extra mile, you will almost always beat the competition.