Trust - The Lubricant for Success - Volume 1.0

Trust is a core value at Knovel and I intend to write about it with some frequency. In working with our team to build Knovel over the last 8 years I have come to understand the tremendous impact of building and loosing trust. It takes time to build and can be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Steven M. R. Covey has authored an excellent book called “The Speed of Trust” that I can unequivocally recommend to anyone that wants to understand the tremendous effects that both gaining and loosing trust can have on success. This is a book that I have read and re-read. If you are part of the Knovel family and would like a copy please let me ([email protected]) know or please order it on-line.

I will be addressing our company this coming Monday morning on an issue that is on everyone’s mind. Every time I talk to our team it presents an opportunity to add or subtract from the “trust bank” I have with each member of the team. I will be speaking about how the economy may affect Knovel over the next 15 months and I am one of thousands of leaders that will attempt to reassure our teams in this uncertain time. I am certain many leaders, given the economic situation, are testing relationships for both good and bad outcomes: businesses are drawing credit lines because they fear their bankers will not honor commitments, customers are hesitating to tell vendors “the bad news” until the very last minute, and companies are not fully revealing the “truth” either because they are unsure or don’t much like what they see. Ultimately their leaders have responsibility for these choices and each presents an opportunity to effect the balance of "trust banks" with myriad stakeholders.

I could tell our team that there will be little impact and try to re-assure them that our business and its future growth is 100% secure. After all we have a business that is growing, has a sustainable competitive advantage, has customers that value our offering and is supported by consistent data (e.g., very high renewal rates…). The fact is that I have some knowledge of what will happen in the 4^th quarter of 2008 and little knowledge of what may happen in 2009. So I will advocate prudence through careful analysis of the available data, belt tightening and making sure that we listen closely to our customers. This means that investments will be held to current levels and we are considering scenarios that include no growth in 2009 to ensure that we remain well capitalized. This is hard to believe for a company that enjoys a 35% compound annual growth rate. Perhaps we will be proven wrong and current and potential customers will so highly value our service that our growth rate will be sustained. It is more likely that a falling tide will cause all boats to fall and we should be organized to accept this for the next several years.

I will share these scenarios with our team and ask them to give careful consideration to controlling costs, making wise investments, preparing for flat results, and extending trust to each Knovel team member to be careful and innovative in their choices.

Thanks for taking time to read these thoughts,

Chris Forbes

CEO

Knovel