The six rungs, and don't start at the sixth
October 16, 2026
Our trust ladder has six rungs, and the one rule is don't start at the sixth.
My co-host Trisha Merriam listed them:
1. Summarize
2. Recommend
3. Prioritize
4. Draft
5. Decide
6. Act
She shared a small change she made this week: when AI has questions for her, she tells it to recommend an answer so she can click and move on instead of stopping to type.
I said the experience is available at every rung. "But don't start at the sixth."
I learned that when I activated Nectar, my AI assistant. She started by offering me options for what she could do for me.
"None of this had happened. There's no trust yet."
So I told her to get to know me first. Start at rung one, and the rest goes faster.
Where this came from
The Trust Ladder: From Summarize to Act — AI Readiness, Part 2Watch the full conversation this clip was pulled from.
The next step
