Good Faith

Deal honestly; don't exploit the letter while violating the spirit. Good faith is the obligation to act with honesty, fairness, and fidelity to the purpose of an agreement or relationship. It's not just "don't lie" — it's "don't use the other party's trust or the gaps in the contract to take advantage." In law, good faith is often implied in contracts and fiduciary duties: you must perform in a way that respects the reasonable expectations of the other side. In practice, it's the norm that keeps cooperation from collapsing when the formal rules are incomplete.

Good faith is what you owe when you've agreed to work together. You share information that's material; you don't hide behind technicalities; you don't sabotage the other side's ability to perform. The opposite is bad faith: complying with the letter while undermining the spirit, or using the relationship to extract value the other party didn't agree to. Bad faith is often legal (you didn't breach the contract) but destructive (you've burned trust and made future cooperation harder). The strategic question is whether you're playing for the single game (bad faith can pay) or the repeated game (good faith pays).

The model applies beyond law. Employment, partnerships, and negotiations all rely on an implicit good-faith assumption. When one side acts in bad faith — e.g. a founder who negotiates for a soft landing while planning to leave, or a buyer who uses due diligence to learn secrets and then walks — the relationship and often the deal collapse. The discipline is to ask: would the other side feel cheated if they knew everything? If yes, you're in bad-faith territory. Good faith is the default that makes incomplete contracts and long-term relationships possible.