“Trust is the only currency
that cannot be taken — only given.”
Most economic systems are built on scarcity.
Scarcity of time, resources, money, attention —
and competition follows naturally from this.
If someone wins,
someone else must lose.
This logic is deeply embedded in how we operate.
Yet there is something that is not scarce.
Trust.
It cannot be owned.
It cannot be regulated.
It cannot be forced.
And yet it is the foundation of every human and economic relationship.
Trust is the invisible currency
that comes before money.
Without trust, money itself loses its meaning.
Every contract, every market, every institution
is built on an advance of trust —
on the assumption that the other party will not abuse it.
When genuine trust is present,
systems begin to self-organise.
Fewer rules are needed.
Less control.
Less monitoring.
Not because people are “better”,
but because they naturally take responsibility.
Trust is not naïve.
It is not weakness.
It is economic force.
Because it releases the energy
that fear constantly freezes.
I experienced this very clearly once.
I was working as a mid-level leader in a global company
when a new bonus system was introduced.
I believed I had been given more responsibility.
I felt that I was trusted.
That feeling generated energy almost immediately.
Enthusiasm.
Ideas.
Room to move.
Later, it became clear that I only had the right to make recommendations —
not actual decision-making authority.
I had built the rollercoaster myself —
but the difference was still crystal clear.
In the moment of trust,
motivation took flight.
Not because of the money.
Not because of the bonus.
But because I believed
my decisions mattered.
And this is what most systems lose.
Not their resources —
but people’s voluntarily offered energy.
In the world of Collective Capitalism — which, over time, has become one layer of the Human Growth Model (HGM) for me — trust is not a secondary value.
It is the most important measurable resource.
Where trust exists,
innovation,
collective energy,
and human wellbeing
reinforce one another.
Fear was the driving force of the old world.
Trust is the language of another.
The new economy begins
where trust is no longer a risk,
but the default mode of operation.