Think = Say = Do

Earning explicit trust can simply be achieved through this equation, think = say = do. When they are all equivalent, you are explicitly trustworthy. If you leave out any of the variables in the equation, then you are not. The caveat with explicit trust is that it can be good or bad. If someone says they will do something bad and does it, you can explicitly trust them to do what they say, even if it isn't something you like.

There is also implicit trust which deals more with someone being able to trust you to not hurt them in ways that you don't necessarily say. This one is harder because a component depends on what is important to the other person. You may not realize you are breaking their implicit trust until after it has been done.

And sometimes, a person can violate both levels of explicit and implicit trust. The question is if they could ever earn it back?