First, this brief interview with Lewis Hamilton (8-time F1 world champion) and Bernie Ecclestone (former F1 owner):
Journalist : Formula One racing has become more & more of a business, less & less about the competition. Is there a way back?
Lewis H : That’s difficult. Today we live in a different world. Morals and respect are on the decline. I see that in my own generation.
Bernie E : I believe we should get back to when your word was your bond. I’ve gone round the world hundreds of times on the basis of handshakes. It’s still usually the case that I can rely on people, because they would be ashamed of themselves if they didn’t keep their word.
Lewis H : But it’s become difficult to find people whose word you can trust.
Bernie E : We must not give up on trust between people. There is nothing more valuable than having someone look you straight in the eye and say, ‘It’s a deal.’
One of the interesting things to note from this exchange between Lewis and Bernie is the perspective of different generations.
The strange thing about getting older is that despite (sometimes) becoming cynical about human existence, you still hold onto the simple values like trust, which has built the world successfully around us for eons.
But subsequent generations — with deep economic conditioning and exposure to the notion that people cannot be trusted — begin to see mistrust and suspicion as hard facts of life.
Most people don’t even seem to question this premise anymore, as we blindly justify the need for contracts & bonds as some sort of default paradigm: as the only way to get things done.
In a fundamentally unstable, chaotic world, it’s important to question this illusion of security, which contracts & bonds seem to advertise.
It’s foolish to convince myself that a piece of paper can give me a sense of security in the complex world we live in. I just need to take time out to really observe the world around me; maybe experience life a bit more in-depth; maybe live in a city of 25 million or even homeless out on the cold streets in any part of the world.
Whatever it is, I need to get out of my bubble of comfort and falsehoods.
I start to realize is that numerous beliefs I’ve tightly held onto — about right or wrong, secured or unsecured, trust or suspicion — are like a balloon at the mercy of a needle.
There is far less friction in accepting the uncertainty of life and to keep moving forward regardless, than to try to control something that will always be out of reach.
Otherwise I invariably set myself up for disappointment and poor relationships.
Now if someone charges me a $1000 bond to rent their property, and if I am an asshole, surely I’m capable of causing $2000 worth of damage? But as the perpetrator, I will only lose $1000. How does this bond therefore guarantee anything? If this isn’t a delusional attempt to guarantee a successful transaction, I don’t know what is. Furthermore, any kind of litigation in such cases is never a straightforward and/or an inexpensive solution.
A contract or money upfront cannot change anyone’s innate values. What is inside a person (positive or negative) will invariably express itself, taking precedence over an external piece of paper forced onto them. If I’m the kind of person that doesn’t give a damn, well, then, I won’t!
Is it possible to do a survey for every contract that has been ever signed on this planet, to prove that a successful transaction happened because of the terms laid out on paper OR because the people involved in these transactions had a decent set of values to get the job done?
A contract — especially one that is full of frivolous manipulative legal jargon — is an unhealthy & negative start to a relationship. With such a contract in place, trust need not exist. It signals right from the outset that two parties don’t trust each other. And it encourages both parties to simply meet the bare minimum of that contract’s requirements. Nothing more.
People stop striving towards improvement and/or producing better quality work than is expected by a sheet of paper.
There might even be a biological basis for trust.
Genuine human touch (hugs, handshakes, eye contact, etc.) releases oxytocin: This is a chemical released by our brain that affects our ability to behave cooperatively. Humans are wired to cooperate. Without such inbuilt mechanisms, how can strangers in crowded cities move around each other in such close proximity, unless you on some level could say that the person next to you can be trusted?
Hiding behind a contract will not make me a better communicator, or a more rounded as a human being, or a better judge of character. This can only happen when I challenge myself to stop swapping my inner faculties for a sheet of paper. Some lessons in life therefore just need to be learned — with or without a contract.
A contract simply ends up acting as a surrogate for trust; further more, a deterrent.
The issue, however, goes deeper than just what a ‘contracted’ person will/ won’t do. It lies in this antagonistic way of dealing with people: via suspicion and mistrust.
The seed of suspicion says: ‘I do not trust you. It’s why I will make you sign this paper. Now with this lack of trust in my heart, I expect you to do a great job for me.’
Human interaction is happening far more on a sub-conscious level, than it is on a conscious level. Hence what I fear I invariably tend to project on to others. Wasn’t it Maslow who said that life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear) and risk (for growth)?
To grow, I have to risk.. show trust.