For Aristotle, the good life does not consist of haphazard and unrelated good conduct.

Neither is the
good life a serendipitous outcome nor can one wish for it. Instead, Aristotle posits, good acts are
intentional. They lead into one another, reinforce one another, and form those patterns of good
conduct which reveal the character of a truly happy person.

The only way human beings can ensure that their acts will be good is for those acts to become habits (in
Greek, έροs; in Latin, mores; in English, customs) that guide human conduct.

A habit is something human beings acquire (in Latin, habere, to have) as they utilize the power of
intellect to render a judgment about what one ought to do as human beings act with knowledge to will
something (in Latin, con-sciere, to act with knowledge, , conscience in English). For Aristotle, a habit is a
midway point located somewhere between an undeveloped capability and expert operation.

Aristotle's teacher, Plato, believed that knowledge is discovered in virtue (in Greek, αρετή; in Latin,
virtus) while ignorance is vice. Human beings discover the happy life as they act according to the dictates
of knowledge. Hence, the aphorism think before you act.

Building upon this tradition, Aristotle distinguished three intellectual virtues that bring happiness:

Understanding (νόυs): the habit of first principles, that is, the habitual search to know primary self-
evident truths that lie at the root of all knowledge

Science (επιστεμή): the habit of drawing conclusions by demonstration from first principles, that is, the
habit of knowing particular scientific findings

Wisdom (σοφία): the habit of knowing things in their highest causes, that is, ordering all principles and
conclusions into one vast body of truth (metaphysics)

Aristotle also distinguished two practical virtues through which human beings can search for happiness:

Art (τεχνή): the habit of knowing how to make tangible things, how to produce some external object; it
includes the mechanical, the liberal, and the fine arts

Prudence (φρονήσιs): the habit of knowing how to do things, how to direct activity that does not result
in tangible products, for example, how to live a good life

Because human beings possess a power of intellect that other nonhuman beings do not, human beings
are obliged by their nature to train their abilities to make them fit instruments for the attainment of
one's fullest potential, that is, to experience happiness in virtue.

No human being is born virtuous and no human being comes to virtue by change but only by long and
arduous training that turns the potency for virtue into virtuous acts. In this way, virtue is the result of
discipline emanating from the power of the intellect as an individual decides to and disciplines oneself in
order to conduct oneself according to the dictates of virtue.
Trust is implicit in this process. AN abiding authentic trust, will endure an occasional disappointment and
that is important to note. An abidning trust will rebound if authenticity is reached, cultivated, and
nuurtured through the 4 step process of frogiveness listed in chapter 10. What is also importnat are the
building blocks of trust and the behaviors that will manifest and should be cultivated, such as the ones
that are listed earlier in this paper.

"Trust is a human virtue, cultivated through speech, conversation, commitments and action."

--Simon and Flores, 2001, found in chapter 3

All facets of trust are needed in people in this world. These are benevolence, honesty, openness,
reliability and competence. May I and all leaders do justice to this book and try to be cultivators of trust.