When you hire someone, you want them to have the right knowledge and credentials. You hire a mechanic to fix your trucks. You hire a mechanical engineer to install or fix your heating system. You don’t confuse which person does which job.

Beyond having the right credentials, how does someone who performs these jobs earn your trust?

Recently, Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, was quoted as saying,

“We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don’t have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you’re going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.”

In Buffett’s simple truth, we hire for skills, but integrity earns our trust.

Integrity is one of our core values at 360 Energy. For us, integrity means our actions and our words must consistently align.

How is integrity demonstrated?

At 360 Energy, we describe ourselves as “independent”. We aren’t a broker representing energy or a carbon offsets supplier. We aren’t a sales representative for a particular technology. We have no hidden agendas and no conflicts of interest. To our clients, we are the independent third party they need to help them navigate the dizzying, confusing maze of energy products, carbon reduction regulations and contracts.

We believe earning trust is the result of giving undivided loyalty.

Trust is also earned through accountability. We must fulfill the spirit, as well as the letter, of our responsibilities. We all make mistakes. After all, we are human. Accountability means fixing things when they go wrong and learning lessons – even hard lessons if necessary – from the experience. Making amends builds trust.

Trust is an outcome of continually creating value. There’s no fudging. We either achieve tangible and measurable success or we don’t achieve it. 360 Energy is proud that year after year, our clients consistently earn on average, 300% ROI on their investment in our services.

Integrity. Accountability. Continual improvement. Achieving and exceeding desired business outcomes. These form the foundation of earning trust. They are the traits found in trusted employees. They are more than likely, the criteria you will also use to hire – and rehire – a trusted advisor.