Hacking Trust Establishment

Carrie Randolph, a senior security consultant with a background in Oklahoma state government and a former state CIO, opens by separating two ideas. Trust is individual, a judgment about whether someone is capable and reliable. Psychological safety is a group condition, describing whether people feel free to speak up and take risks. She splits individual trust into cognitive trust, based on credentials and consistency, and effective trust, based on feeling that someone cares.

The middle of the talk turns these ideas into tactics. For social operations she describes pretext calls that lean on empathy, and nonverbal cues such as eye contact, leaning in and mirroring communication style. For sales and staff management she recommends owning mistakes quickly, sharing honest incident stories, and working out what each stakeholder needs, such as building ties with the CFO and HR before asking for funding or enforcement. She also notes that delivery branding and a clipboard can open doors, as an example of how appearance shapes perceived legitimacy.

She closes with the case for trust inside organizations. Staff who feel trusted are more likely to report suspicious activity and to bring forward process improvements. Her example is a team side project that saved 15 minutes a week and led to raises. She ends by challenging attendees to hack a person as well as a system.