The Respect and Trust Competency Framework©, or RespectTrust, emerged from a collaboration that aimed to redefine what it means to educate and empower humans in the 21st century. The inception of RespectTrust can be traced back to a series of discussions centered around the pressing need for a new paradigm in education — one that goes beyond the mere acquisition of skills and knowledge to encompass the moral and ethical dimensions of human behavior. These discussions were driven by a desire to create an educational model that equips individuals with essential competencies to foster ethical behavior and moral integrity, grounding every action in respect and trust. My vision was deeply inspired by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who in 1947 wrote: “Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal and the facts from the fiction. Therefore, education’s function is to teach one to think intensively and critically. However, education, which stops with efficiency, may be the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason but no morals. … We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character — that is the true goal of education. A complete education gives one the power of concentration and worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.”