Knowledge Base
What is trust?
“The central message of our book is that the most professional and effective way to behave at work is to trust and be trustworthy. Critically, this is the way to build better relationships which create far more value for everyone involved..” Excerpt from 'Choose...
Why leaders choose trust – a presentation
There are 6 core ideas that we share in this presentation. They underpin our thinking about trust and the book we're writing for Economist Books. By Stuart Maister, Joint MD, Mutual Value We were delighted to share thinking about why leaders choose trust with the...
Podcast episode 4: A masterclass in how to build high value client relationships
“You don't want to be Man of the Match on a losing team...” Rich Postance, AccentureBy Stuart Maister, Joint MD, Mutual Value Richard Postance is Head of Clients & Transformation at Accenture UK and he knows how to win, build and grow hugely valuable client...
Podcast episode 5: Inside the mind of a trusted construction CEO
“You think it’s my mistake and I think it’s yours. Now how are we going to deal with it?” The answer is in the Gregor Craig podcastBy Stuart Maister, Joint MD, Mutual Value Greg Craig leads one of the UK's biggest construction firms, Skanska. He's taken them into the...
Podcast episode 3: rapid growth based on high trust
“ “In a bad moment, trust people more, don’t trust them less…In a tough moment, it’s a bit like being a parent..Your team needs to know that you’re there, you support them and you believe in them" ” Nick Hale, CEO, ONP GroupBy Stuart Maister, Joint MD, Mutual Value...
Podcast episode 1: the leader who built trust
“I characterised the past as Model A. Adversarial relationships, short term power based relationships with stakeholders...I said we'll create a new model, Model B...which will mean a shared destiny relationships with all our stakeholders...we're going to try and keep...

How often have you heard from Clients that you were brilliant, but in a close fought contest you just came second and you lost on price?
In this video Kevin explores the reality behind Clients selection criteria, and why this should make us think differently about how we choose to behave.
They are buying my expertise aren’t they? In a world where technical ability and expertise can be found so easily on the web and from software, the thing that will be most valuable to a Client is our ability to build broad understanding of their business and the value they are trying to create. Our focus has to switch to building these kind of relationships.
Transformation is the wrong word to use to drive change. We believe the focus should be on PEP – Permanent Evolution at Pace. Here’s 2 minutes on why that’s the case and how it impacts commercial relationships.
Many Clients have a budget, but this may or may not be rooted in a well articulated business case. In this video Kevin talks about the Mutual Value approach to discussing the topic with a Client. By both parties understanding the business case they have clarity about how they can contribute to it, or indeed whether they agree with it.
Do we know what the Client actually means when they say what they want?
This briefing looks at how to be really inquisitive in such situations. Kevin provides a brilliant and simple way to get to the truth, and help the Client consider more carefully what they really want, while ensuring both sides share the same definition of what this actually means.
We bid to achieve a certain margin – why are we so often disappointed by what we achieve?
Kevin explores how operating within a transactional world, but wanting to do great work and please Clients, can often lead to us delivering lower margins than we should, and we deserve, and points to an alternative approach.
Traditional sales techniques don’t work in a modern world – perhaps its time to move on.
In this video Kevin talks about how the old paradigm is dying. People will no longer put up with being sold at and demand much more from their long term suppliers. Ultimately they wish to move to a relationship build on trust and Mutual Value.

For further information get in touch now...
SOPHIE@MUTUAL-VALUE.COM
MUTUAL VALUE HELPS YOU BUILD TRUST.
Let's have an open conversation about the value this can bring to your organisation. Contact sophie@mutual-value.com to arrange a free video call with Stuart Maister or Kevin Vaughan-Smith.