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Trust is collapsing.

Not just in politics or media, but inside your own organisation. And without trust, execution fails. Projects slow down, engagement drops, and even your best strategies die in the middle layer.

In this article, I want to unpack why your people might not trust leadership right now — and what you can do, practically, to rebuild trust with speed and credibility.

Trust: The Real Currency of Leadership

We talk a lot about strategy, performance, and transformation. But trust is the operating system that makes all of that work.

With trust, people give you speed, commitment, and loyalty.

Without it, they give you compliance at best — and quiet resistance at worst.

Global studies like the Edelman Trust Barometer have shown trust in leaders is at historic lows. Once it erodes, leaders often spend years, sometimes decades, trying to rebuild it.

So why is this happening inside otherwise “good” organisations?

How Leaders Unintentionally Destroy Trust

From my work with corporate CEOs and executive teams, I see three recurring patterns:

1. Overpromising and underdelivering

Leaders announce bold outcomes — “full turnaround in 12 months”, “no layoffs”, “new strategy will fix everything” — and then reality doesn’t follow. One broken promise is frustrating. A series of them quietly kills credibility.

2. Lack of transparency and silence

Silence is not neutral. During restructurings or difficult transitions, many CEOs avoid tough conversations because “it’s not the right time”. But when you leave a gap, people fill it with rumours. Anxiety spikes not because of the decision itself, but because of the secrecy around it.

3. Misaligned actions and hypocrisy

You say collaboration matters, but you reward only individual heroes. You preach values and “zero tolerance”, but protect a toxic high performer because they deliver numbers. The message is clear: results matter more than values. Culture always exposes what you really believe.

If any of this sounds familiar, here’s the good news: you can rebuild trust. But it has to be deliberate.

Three Practical Ways to Rebuild Trust Fast

1. Do what you say (even if you say less)

Consistency compounds. Underpromise and overdeliver. Start small if you have to, but deliver reliably over time. Your people watch everything — what you say, what you don’t say, the email you send, the one you avoid. Every kept promise is a deposit in the trust account.

2. Communicate the uncomfortable truths

Bad news doesn’t kill trust. Hiding it does.

Be open about challenges, constraints, and trade-offs. Employees and boards respect honesty, even when it’s painful. As Satya Nadella said, leaders aren’t here to be liked — they’re here to be trusted.

3. Align words, actions, and rewards

This is where most leaders fail. If you say “people first”, but your incentives are “numbers first”, your culture will follow the incentives. Make sure your decisions, promotions, and recognition are consistent with your stated values. Over time, this alignment builds deep, durable trust.

Your Move

Trust is not a “soft” factor. It’s a hard performance driver.

If you want speed, execution, loyalty, and real engagement, you must protect, sustain, and rebuild trust intentionally. That’s your job as a leader.

Ask yourself today:

• Where am I overpromising?
• Where am I silent when I should be transparent?
• Where are my actions and rewards misaligned with what I say?

Then start fixing those gaps. That’s how you rebuild trust — and unlock performance.

👉 Listen to the full episode here: Spotify, Apple​

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Andrea Petrone

CEO Whisperer | Top 1% Executive Coach and Speaker in the UK | Founder of WCL.

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You need more? Here are other ways to get value from what I do:

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Reply LAB if you’d like to explore how this could work for you, and we’ll set up a quick call.

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