[Trust as a fundamental key for management in the service of people: Robert Spaemann's work]

In the present paper, we analyse the role of trust in the search for truthful health management in the service of people, bearing in mind the considerations of Robert Spaemann, Emeritus Professor of Ethics and Politics at the University of Munich. According to this author, trust is an intangible asset which helps the transmission of knowledge and the voluntary assumption of responsibility. In the first place, the transfer of knowledge, because the credibility of any professional involved in health management is threatened when such activity is carried out in a scenario in which managers may provide incentives for just the opposite of cooperative knowledge, so that transparency in the transmission of truth and "getting on" in one's career may appear in conflict. Secondly, the voluntary assumption of responsibilities, because the credibility of a health manager is lent weight when, in any contingency, he/she regularly puts the interests of patients before personal interests.