Trust Tour

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(Day 274) Matt Made Me Smile Today

Aug 27, 2010 » No Comments

My son Kevin has a friend Matt. I have known him since he was in kindergarten. He’s a great kid (adult now) and I enjoyed watching him grow up. I did not know it, but he has been following the Trust Tour. I received this surprise email today. It put a smile on my face knowing that Matt is still getting something from our relationship and the Trust Tour.

Thanks Matt for taking the time to write, you really got this right. My experience is that once you understand this basic philosophy life goes a little easier, great stuff!

Dear Mr. Welch,

I’d like to thank you for opening my eyes with your trust tour. I heard about it not too long ago and immediately upon reading some of your posts and watching videos I realized that I was quite literally living life in a way that I didn’t enjoy. I found myself hanging out with the same people, working 5-7 days a week (8am to 5pm), and eating the same foods. Repetition was consuming my life and I was getting bored. What I’m getting at doesn’t necessarily have to do with just trust, but rather diplomacy and general happiness. I decided that I was going to try and start a tour of my own.

This isn’t an official tour, simply just a way of going about my life with three goals in mind and two mottoes, if you will.

1. Meet as many new people as possible.

2. Try and make everyone around you happier by having fun.

3. Try and get them to do the same.

4. “No matter what brilliant idea we may hear or have, we must always realize that the opposite may also be true”.

5. ”Fun is for sharing.”

I have to tell you, I have been back at University of Delaware for 5 days now and with this new attitude I have met an incredible amount of people. Every person I meet is just as interesting as the last. By going out of my way to make sure others are happy and having fun, I find that I receive the same benefits they do. The feelings are reciprocated.

I could talk about this new philosophy all day and the things I experienced that opened my eyes but I truly just wanted to say thank you.

Best of luck with everything,

Matthew Michels

Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering

University of Delaware

Newark, DE 19716
(Day 273) Paul Zak – Dr. Love

Aug 26, 2010 » No Comments

Paul J. Zak is a scientist, prolific author, entrepreneur, TV personality, and public speaker. He is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Zak also serves as Professor of Neurology at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and is a Senior Researcher at UCLA. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard. He is credited with the first published use of the term “neuroeconomics” and has been a vanguard in this new discipline. He organized and administers the first doctoral program in neuroeconomics in the world at Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Zak is a recognized expert in oxytocin. His lab discovered in 2004 that oxytocin allows us to determine who to trust. His current research is showing that oxytocin is responsible for virtuous behaviors, working as the brain’s “moral molecule.” This knowledge is being used to understand the basis for civilization and modern economies, improve negotiations, and treat patients with neurologic and psychiatric disorders.

Read some of Dr. Zak’s articles about Trust
(Day 272) A Bad Egg?

Aug 25, 2010 » No Comments

According to Newser.com Jack DeCoster, head of Wright County Eggs, provided salmonella-tainted eggs to 15 of the 25 restaurants where people have gotten sick, and he has been involved in loads of scandals and health complaints in the past. In 1996, for example, he was fined $3 million, after the Labor Department found that workers were handling dead chickens with their bare hands, and living next to manure- and rat-infested trailers.

DeCoster has also gotten in trouble for hiring illegal immigrants and tolerating sexual harassment. In 2000, Iowa’s Attorney General dubbed DeCoster a “habitual violator” of the state’s environmental laws. And earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of animal cruelty, after animal rights activists caught workers whipping birds by their necks, leaving rotting corpses in cages with egg-producing birds, and tossing live birds in the trash. The current egg recall has grown to encompass 380 million eggs. Nearly 2,000 people have gotten sick, and the CDC expects more to come.

I don’t have first hand knowledge of what happened here, nor do I want to convict a man i’ve never met. This information is widely distributed in the media. I am, however, thinking about this type of person. I am wondering how we stop them from causing so much damage in our society. They abuse everyone and everything in their path. They exploit them for their own benefit, animals are tortured, the environment is polluted, employees are taken advantage of, and customers are sickened. They get the money and power as their reward.

What can we do? The government does not have the answers. In this situation they have fined him millions, but he made enough to keep operating. They have denied him permits, but he used partners to buy the farms. What do you think we can do? How do we stop the insanity of allowing these kinds of people to control our world?