Not lying is good. Never making promises you can’t keep is good. Having integrity is good.
But people most often seem to think of trust as an absolute kind of thing that has to do with only one standard. If you don’t match that standard, you can’t be trustworthy.
In fact, you can trust people if they lie. If they lie consistently, that is. Trust is about predictablity. If I know that when you say you’ll do something, you won’t do it as you say, then I can predict you.
I have a mason who always says he’ll do things at a certain time, and he doesn’t show up for months. I can trust him to show up, just not when he says he will. If I am prepared to wait, he’s as reliable as anyone else.
I have friends who are always half an hour late. Always! When we arrange a date with them, we know this, and we plan for it. We slow our arrival so we’ll get there when they do.
If I have a salesman who always over promises. I can trust him. I know that he’ll only be able to do half of what he says he can do, and if I can live with that, it’s fine.
Trust is about predictability. It is about understanding a person’s behavior. You can establish trust with someone who lies or exaggerates or whatever, so long as they are consistent in how they do it.
It’s when people do something different every time they are in a similar situation, that’s when you can’t trust them.