The Survivor’s Edge: Why Trust Outlasts Talent in Business and Beyond
- PG Geldenhuys
- Oct 29
- 3 min read
When I started PG Tops Travel & Tours, I was just another hopeful entrepreneur with a laptop, a minivan, and a mountain of enthusiasm. What I didn’t have was trust. In travel, as in life, trust is the ultimate currency, and it’s not granted easily. It took years of small wins, awkward partnerships, and slow-building credibility before the industry started to see us not as the new kid with a glossy brochure, but as a reliable partner. Once that happened, once the alliances were formed and the right people were around the table, everything began to move faster. The machine clicked into place. With Clive as my partner and with Roelf and Yolanda in my corner, I was off to the races.
Listening to SA Survivor winner Rob Bentele at our recent Accelerator Training Session in Durban, I was struck by how eerily similar his path was. From his childhood in rural South Africa to outlasting 19 contestants on national television, Rob’s secret weapon wasn’t brute strength or cunning strategy. It was trust. On an island where deceit is the default currency, he built loyalty by keeping promises. He was the guy who kept the fire burning at night. That small act of reliability became his brand. Or as my dad always put it: “Underpromise and overdeliver.”
But there’s more to it. Rob prepared like a man obsessed. He bulked up before the island, adding not just muscle but extra fat for endurance. He studied the psychology of the game and understood the social economy of trust. His tribe gave him the hidden immunity idol because they believed he’d use it for them. And he did. That’s how he won… by making integrity his competitive edge.
But his next appearance, on Survivor: Australia vs. the World, told a cautionary tale. This time, he went too hard trusting his legacy constructs. He went in with a fixed strategy instead of reading the room. Others had done deeper homework, enjoyed pre-show alliances, and read their competitors better. Rob assumed his old formula would work… it didn’t. He was the first one out, and in hindsight, he laments his lack of time. A shortened format stripped him of the agency to build that trust.
It’s the classic entrepreneurial arc: the strategy that wins your first game can cost you the next one. What got you here won’t get you there. And that’s the trick, right? Stay true to your core, but iterate as the game evolves.
This works everywhere. Trust is built slowly and lost instantly, and let’s look at…
Sport: The Springboks are a national treasure right now, but it’s a precarious kind of love. One arrogant selection or PR misstep, and that same adoring public will turn. Maintaining trust in high performance means never believing your own myth. Just ask Heyneke Meyer, Nick Mallett or Rudolf Straeuli.
Movies: Lucasfilm and Disney learned this the hard way. The Star Wars sequels didn’t just divide fans… they broke their trust. Continuity was sacrificed for spectacle. The audience felt unseen, unheard, and ultimately betrayed. Once the fans stop believing you understand them, they don’t come back.
Business: When PG Tops was still new, mistakes were less impactful. I lost a lot of opportunities quickly, but I learned. And eventually, I landed in a good place, where I could respect every single transaction and build massive trust over time. Deliver one perfect trip, and you earn loyalty for life. But then again, slip once, and the whole narrative can crumble. That’s where relationships are critical…
Trust is slow-growing, like coral. Lose it, and rebuilding takes an era.
PG’s Pro Tip:
Train Before You Play: Whether it’s Survivor or business, preparation creates margin. Overtrain physically, mentally, financially. Fat reserves on an island equal cash reserves in a business.
Build Trust, Then Leverage It: Deliver more than promised, every time. Be the person who keeps the fire burning when no one’s watching. Embody your values.
Adapt the Winning Formula: Yesterday’s plan can be tomorrow’s trap. Review your “Survivor strategy” every six months - new players, new terrain, new alliances.
ChatGPT Prompt: “Help me create a six-month trust strategy for my business. Include internal trust (team reliability, communication habits) and external trust (client delivery, reputation, brand consistency). Suggest one measurable indicator for each.”
Trust, like muscle, is earned through repetition - built by consistency, broken by complacency, and sustained only by humility. Whether on a tropical island, in a boardroom, or on a rugby field, the lesson is the same: keep tending the fire.
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