A wonderful surprise on December 24: despite his busiest time of the year, Santa Claus agreed to be our guest on the last podcast of 2022. In the 10 minutes of his interview I asked him:
About Santa and Sustainability
I’m a huge proponent of clean energy. I have to be, look at where we live, right up at the North Pole and having magical reindeer, that helps to be able to fly everywhere with reindeer power. But, you know, that does only work on Christmas Eve. The rest of the year I take conventional transportation and I do try to make ecologically sound choices for sure.
About All the Cookies he gets from
I do love the outpouring that people give, the gifts that they leave for me, that’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. And I’ll tell you what I’ve done for the last seven weeks, getting ready for the big season, I’ve been doing intermittent fasting. I don’t know if anybody’s heard about that, but I’m eating 8 hours and then I’m taking 16 hours and I’m not eating at all.
About how Santa builds trust
Being reliable definitely helps build trust, and I’ve been reliable for a lot of years, but I do think there’s a bit more to it than that. Over the years, people have also learned that I have good judgment. I don’t always deliver people exactly what they ask for. Sometimes I read between the lines, I look a little deeper and they usually find out that, hey, this isn’t exactly what I asked for, but I even like it better than what I asked for. So I think part of it is being reliable. Part of it is having good judgment. But it’s allowed me to build a lot of trust over the years, I think.
About children who are not as lucky
I’ll tell you, that is a real concern. Fortunately, people are so amazing. All over the world, we have not-for-profit organizations or organizations that are dedicated to helping people. The biggest one in the world is United Way Worldwide. They bring in over $5 billion to help needy families and deserving families worldwide. And there are so many other St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States and many others. They bring in billions of dollars. So I do what I can. But fortunately we have a lot of Santa’s helpers around the world, making the world a little bit of a better place, for sure.
Read the transcript of the interview with Santa Claus
Listen to what Santa Claus wishes us all for 2023
Trust is the invisible force that shapes our world, and at TrustTalk, we’re committed to exploring its many dimensions. Join us as we engage with thought leaders from all walks of life to discuss the role of trust in every aspect of our world. From personal relationships to business, technology, society, and beyond, we explore the wonders of this essential human emotion. It’s a journey you won’t want to miss.
Our guest for episode 99 is Frédérique Six, Associate Professor of Public Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a visiting professor at the GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence at the University of Antwerp. She explores the complex relationship between trust and control within organizations, particularly those that perform public tasks such as healthcare, education, and policing. She explains two main perspectives on the relationship between trust and control. The traditional view sees them as substitutes, where more control means less trust, and vice versa. However, she advocates for a more nuanced view, where trust and control can complement each other. When controls are experienced as enabling rather than coercive, they help build trust by promoting fairness, predictability, and ethical behavior.
She also discusses her use of motivation theory, which distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. According to this theory, employees perform better when their basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—are met. Frédérique explains how these needs are influenced by control systems and how this balance affects both trust and motivation within organizations.
Frédérique highlights the multifaceted nature of trust, noting that it is context-dependent but guided by a universal sequence: a trustor assesses the trustworthiness of a trustee and decides whether to take a trusting action based on that assessment. She explains that while trust is influenced by situational factors, there are common elements across different contexts, which makes trust a universal yet complex phenomenon.
As the discussion concludes, Frédérique reflects on the challenges faced by young researchers studying trust. She believes that identifying and challenging deeply held beliefs about trust and control will be crucial for advancing trust-based governance. While this is high-risk research, she encourages young professionals to question the status quo to drive meaningful change.