In all parts of our lives there is one instinct we use that is key to survival and that is trust.
To trust other individuals, companies, products, etc., is something we do without thinking about it each and every day.
It is a natural survival instinct and when we are let down we have in many cases a strong reaction against those who have let us down.
Many of our decisions have trust as part of the process.
When we book a flight, there are many options and it is not always the cheapest option that wins the day.
We are prepared to pay a reasonable premium to fly on a reputable and safe airline especially if we are travelling with our family.
Over the years I’ve read many business books on leadership. There are so many so-called experts out there who have sure fire ways of being a great leader and to be honest in many cases the advice is not worth the paper it is written on.
I learned a long time ago that there are three key elements that make great leaders and the first one is trust.
If a leader wants others to follow him or her there must be trust in place in order that the followers will willingly support and believe in the leader.
Yes, there are leaders out there who use the ‘bully boy’ tactics to get their way and for a while they can often get away by using fear in place of trust.
The problem with fear tactics is they only work for a little while and those who are talented will leave to find a position with a leader who does not lead through fear.
The reason I have chosen to talk about trust at this time is because of the recent news from Bloomberg who reported a bombshell when it comes to hardware security.
Companies like Amazon and Apple found a malicious chip on their server motherboards.
These are not counterfeit chips. They are not part of the motherboard design. These were added by the factories in China at the time of manufacture.
The chip was placed among other signal conditioning components and is incredibly hard to spot as the nature of these motherboards includes hundreds of minuscule components.
Though Amazon and Apple have denied it, a private security contractor in Canada found the hidden chip on server motherboards.
Elemental Technologies, acquired by Amazon in 2015, subcontracted Super Micro Computer to manufacture their server motherboards in China.
It is unknown how many of the company’s products have this type of malicious hardware in them.
Equipment from Elemental Technologies has been supplied to the likes of government contractors as well as major banks and even reportedly used in the CIA’s drone operations.
As we all know, there are presently strained relationships across the world today and none more so than the relationship between the US and China.
For some time, the US has accused China of stealing intellectual property to benefit themselves.
I am sure this story, if true, will be another nail in the coffin when it comes to trust between the US and China.
Gordon is the former president and chief executive of BMMI. He can be reached at gordonboyle@hotmail.com