This was the exasperated question from one of my participants in a recent presentation skills workshop.
A room full of highly intelligent aeronautical engineers, all fresh graduates starting their careers with a major Defence contractor — and one of them had finally said what many were thinking.
At the end of the session, she approached me and said “I know my stuff. I spend hours on a proposal and then I get questioned. I just don’t get it.”
I explained to her that they don’t trust you yet because they don’t know you yet. And trust, especially in defence where stakes are high and scrutiny is constant, takes time.
To understand this properly, we need to look at trust through Stephen Covey’s Four Cores of Credibility.
1. Integrity
Are you ethical? Honest? Do you follow through on what you say you’ll do?
2. Intent
What are your motives? Are you acting for the good of the organisation, the client, the mission — or just yourself?
3. Capability
Yes, you’re qualified. But do you have the broader skills, judgement, communication, and attitude that make people confident working with you?
4. Results
What have you delivered before? What evidence exists that you can do this again?
When we work with people we don’t know, these are the silent questions they’re asking. Not because they doubt your intelligence — but because trust is built on evidence, not assumptions.
I reassured her that it’s perfectly normal for people to question you early in your career. In fact, questions aren’t objections — they’re buying signals. They’re invitations to reassure, clarify, and demonstrate that you’ve done the work and you know what you’re talking about.
A big part of any presentation is showing, through your words, your structure, and your presence, that you have integrity, intent, capability, and results.
Trust is like the supporting cables on a suspension bridge — and it’s built one interaction and one cable at a time.
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