Insights
Stop Making Grown Adults Earn Your Trust
Some leaders trust first. Others make you earn it. Both camps are having the wrong argument. Here's a three-zone model that shows owners where trust ends and accountability begins.
The Problem With Hitting Your Numbers
Several years ago I was told, mid-year, not to worry too much about a target we were clearly going to miss.
Then the performance reviews came in. Just the number, and the gap.
That experience reinforces something called Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And the more I've thought about it, the more I've seen it play out everywhere: from nail factories to Pfizer boardrooms to quarterly earnings calls where executives admit they'd kill a profitable project rather than miss a number.
Hitting your targets feels like winning. But sometimes it's the most expensive thing you can do.
This week I'm writing about the hidden cost of how we measure success — and what to do about it.
The Signals We Miss Until It’s Too Late
I locked eyes with a stranger on the highway for barely a second.
Two minutes later he was behind me, flashing his lights and closing in. Then came the first hit. Then the second. Then a third — at full highway speed — that sent me toward the guardrail with a steep drop to a valley below.
I walked away from it. He didn't, not really.
This post isn't just about what happened that day. It's about what I've never been able to stop thinking about since: the fact that somewhere along the way, his support system had completely broken down. And nobody caught it in time.
As leaders, we're surrounded by people carrying things we can't see. This week I'm writing about how to notice the signals, and what to do when you do.
Forget the Trust Fall. Here's What Actually Rebuilds Trust in an Organization.
Most leaders think trust is rebuilt through communication.
More meetings.
More updates.
More town halls.
More promises.
But trust doesn't return because leadership talks about it.
It returns when leadership does something costly, visible, and consistent enough that people start believing the words again.
When I inherited a team struggling with internal conflict, damaged relationships, and a supplier dispute headed toward legal action, my first instinct was to fix the strategy.
That was the wrong starting point.
I couldn't fix the strategy until I fixed the room.
This week's Leadership In Focus newsletter explores what actually rebuilds trust, including a lesson from Howard Schultz's decision to close 7,100 Starbucks stores and why trust is not a feeling.
It's a system.
Read the full article below.
#Leadership #Trust #Culture #LeadershipDevelopment #OrganizationalCulture
Your Scars Aren't the Problem. They're the Proof.
Your scars aren’t the problem. They’re the proof.
Most leaders try to smooth over the cracks.
Hide the hard moments.
Polish the story.
But resilience doesn’t look polished.
It looks like what you’ve survived, and what you’re finally willing to face.
This week’s piece is about a chipped bulldog, a Bond film, and the uncomfortable truth most leaders keep avoiding.
Read it. Then ask yourself one question:
What’s the elephant you’re still managing around?