> It’s 100% reasonable to have a high degree of skepticism within a low-trust environment.

And this IMO kills it in an increasing amount of work places. I might be seeing it more pessimistic as it is, but the increased people turnover, team fluctuation, miscommunication and related factors produce a massive drop in trust between co-workers.

> Or we can start from a place of positive intent right from the beginning and keep it there until they violate that trust.

Additionally, I would search for a way to tell people I work with about this principle. Some people begin to distrust you if they think you are kinda odd