I just finished reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. The 7 habits can be summed up in two actions, keep your word, and include the people in your life so you can live a meaningful life. He emphasizes trust. To foster it, you have to make yourself proactive, focus on your ultimate goal, and organize your schedule to accomplish the value principles you hold dear. But the schedule should be flexible so that independence can be transformed into interdependence, because we live in a society that needs to cooperate with people that surround us. It makes sense, you should appreciate those who are the same and those who are different. I guess the difficulty I find is that some people make it an effort to persuade you that their position is right, some people talk for the sake of talking, and it's draining. I advocate surrounding yourself with a positive group that make you better. It's a personal challenge to tolerate the idiosyncracies of assholes. But that's why its important to focus on self and not get sucked into the influence of a group, but cooperate with a group to develop synergy. Alot of what I read is common sense, but it instills meaning to personal choices I make on a daily basis, and each decision counts. All these books also have the disclaimer, "these are not manipulative tools, you should use them out of sincerity". True.

More CEOs should read books.