A senior executive I once coached had a quiet but powerful presence. She wasn’t the loudest voice in the room, nor the most polished on stage, but something about her made people lean in, follow through, and stay loyal, especially during organisational shakeups. One day, a younger manager asked her, “How do you get people to trust you without trying so hard?”
Her response? “Because I trust them first.”
That wasn’t just a clever soundbite. It was a leadership paradigm. In an age of information overload, remote work, and rising employee disengagement, trust isn’t just a soft skill. It’s a strategic asset.