团队精神英语演讲稿

团队精神英语演讲稿

The Power of Trust"

Good morning. A Boeing supplier conference is, among other things, a great melting pot event, with people from across the country and around the world. Greetings to all of you and thanks for coming. Now I'm going to see if I can stir up the pot a little bit.

Over the past two days, you have heard more than a few words over and over again over the past two days. They include: speed . . . execution . . . reliability . . . affordability . . . integrity . . . and teamwork. Each of those words represents a hugely important concept. They are all different. But there is one word that ties them all together. With it, you can increase speed, reduce cost, count on the reliability and integrity of other parties, and work together as a team in achieving flawless execution. Without it, your organization or enterprise will always be working at cross-purposes.

The magic word is 'trust.' As a substitute for trying to control a myriad of actions through detailed contracts, constant oversight, and the threat of litigation or dismissal, elevating the level of trust within an organization is the most powerful means in the world of raising performance. Nothing - and I mean nothing - is more conducive to "better, faster, cheaper" than a high level of openness and trust between people in disparate jobs and locations who are working together toward a common end.

So what is 'trust' and how do we capture this quiet lightning and put it to work?

The author C. S. Lewis got to the heart what most of us mean when we say we really 'trust' somebody or something when he wrote:

"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life or death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it? The same with people."

As this quote suggests, the most important component of trust is a strong belief - a hanging-over-the-precipice belief - in the complete integrity of another party or thing, whether it is the integrity of piece of rope or the integrity of the string of promises that we make to one another. On a continuing basis, trust is impossible without integrity. It can only exist in the presence of highest standards of conduct.

Let me cite a shining example of the power of trust involving one of our principal customers.

In leading Operation Iraqi Freedom, General Tommy Franks defied an old military axiom that says that an attacking force should have a 3-to-1 numerical advantage over an entrenched defender. He attacked with a smaller force. Unlike Operation Desert Storm 12 years earlier, Operation Iraqi Freedom did not begin with a massive aerial bombardment. And it did not stop at the Euphrates River. With fewer than half the troops and less than half the armor and artillery, the troops under General Franks' command drove all the way to Baghdad and beyond in just three weeks.