The Trusted Network

Posted by Jeff Carter
on February 6th, 2013

When I was on a trading floor, there was a trusted network. Because the code of ethics was “Your Word Is Your Bond” there was a different code of ethics on the trading floor than the real world. The structure of the exchange also forced this culture to happen. The rule book in Rule 514 was simple and elegant and governed exactly how a trade was made. The clearinghouse actually took the opposite side of each trade, and everyone knew the money would be “good”. If a person was a scumbag, they got called out publicly. One of the virtues of “open outcry”! The peer pressure could be worse than a bunch of catty teenage girls in a bathroom.

The real world isn’t that way. There is no rule book, no trade register, no clearinghouse.

Traders that I speak with lament this. When we go off the floor, we are used to doing business one way and a lot of times we get burned. People aren’t what they seem. Your word isn’t your bond. As my friend said, 95% of the time good liars tell the truth.

What do you do in your personal life to make sure that the opposite party you are doing a deal with is on the level? No doubt, we could hire attorneys at every turn-but that is expensive.

There is LinkedIN ($LNKD) and Facebook($FB). But those platforms seem pretty flat to me. I have a lot of LinkedIN contacts and while I have met almost 100% of them, I haven’t done business with 100% of them and that is a difference. I don’t know if Facebook is exactly the right sort of place to start a business relationship.

I’d be appreciative to the community to comment on some strategies that have been successful for them, and also what doesn’t work for them.

Friedman To Lead Dialogue on “Social Media and the Ethics and Compliance Program”

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