The hallmark of effective leadership is creating the conditions where others can excel.

Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with extraordinary individuals and teams—often without stopping to examine what made them successful. It wasn’t until I began teaching leadership coaching at several universities and working with the Global Career and Leadership Development team at Booth that I started realizing just how much trust and alignment shape real results.

One memorable moment came when Jared, a sharp-minded and ambitious student in my course, approached me after class with a deceptively simple request: “I want to be a better leader,” he said, his tone measured, but the hesitation underneath was impossible to miss. “The team I am leading is capable of more, but I don't know how to unlock their potential.”

Jared’s words stayed with me: “I want to be a better leader. My team is capable of more, but I don’t know how to unlock their potential.”

He wasn’t asking for a strategy template or a performance framework—he was asking how to lead in a way that truly connected. I offered to coach him, and that simple conversation kicked off a year-long, often uncomfortable process of change.

Jared was brilliant on his own—a classic high performer. But leading others meant letting go of control and learning to trust. His team was talented and well-trained, but they didn’t take initiative. They worked in silos, hesitated to speak up, and second-guessed decisions. “I’m leading,” he admitted, “but I don’t think they trust me.”

That sentence landed hard—for both of us. It named the real issue, and it changed the direction of our work. This wasn’t about productivity or planning. It was about relationship, trust, and what it means to lead beyond competence.

I recommended he read Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet—a story not about charisma or command, but about giving control and creating leaders at every level. Jared devoured it. What struck him most wasn’t the mechanics of delegation, but the mindset shift: from telling people what to do, to trusting them to own the mission.

“That’s the part I struggle with,” he told me a week later. “It’s not that I don’t believe in them. It’s that I still think I need to hold everything together.”

And that became our focus—helping Jared unlearn the belief that being a strong leader meant doing it all himself. We started redefining what strength looked like: listening more, speaking less, asking questions instead of offering answers. It was messy. Slower than he liked. But over time, something shifted—not just in him, but in the way his team began to show up.

Over time, Jared began to shift—not just in how he delegated, but in how he showed up. He replaced urgency with presence, performance checklists with real conversations. He started asking his team what they thought before jumping in with answers. Slowly, the silos began to break. People volunteered ideas, flagged risks, even disagreed with him—openly and constructively.

The real breakthrough came during a quarterly review. One team lead said, “I used to think you had everything figured out and we just had to follow. Now, I feel like we’re building this together.”
‍

That moment said it all. Jared didn’t just earn their trust—he created the conditions for it. He was still ambitious, but no longer carrying it all alone. The team wasn’t just performing better. The work had become personal. They led together.

Jared’s story isn’t rare. I’ve seen the same shift unfold in fast-growing startups, legacy nonprofits, and seasoned executive teams. It’s not about having the smartest people in the room. It’s about trust—because without it, alignment breaks, accountability weakens, and people retreat into safety.

High Performance Is More Than Results

What changed with Jared wasn’t just his mindset—it was the ripple effect across his team. As trust deepened, people started showing up differently: they gave feedback more freely, took ownership, and held one another accountable. They moved from quiet compliance to full engagement.

They built their performance deliberately—one habit at a time:

Continuous improvement – Weekly reflections helped them learn faster.
Full commitment – Clarity around roles strengthened follow-through.
Resilience – Early stumbles didn’t derail them; they fueled growth.
Adaptability under pressure – They trained for challenge, not comfort.
Internal accountability – Responsibility became a shared value.

These traits didn’t just happen—they emerged from a foundation of psychological safety. Research from Google’s Project Aristotle, Amy Edmondson, and my own coaching work all underscore the same truth: when people feel safe, they show up with honesty, courage, and creativity.

From Individual Contributor to Leader

For Jared, stepping out of his comfort zone as an individual contributor was a turning point. “I was used to doing everything myself,” he acknowledged. Letting go—of control, of certainty—required a fundamental shift in mindset. And that’s where leadership really began.

Your Call to Action

High performance isn’t about perfection. It’s about creating an environment where people grow, recover, and rise—together.

So let me leave you with this:

What’s the philosophy that drives your leadership?
And how are you making space for your team to do their best work?

Sources:

• ‍Google's Project Aristotle‍
• Edmondson, Amy C. The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2019.
• Sandal, Philip, and Alexis Philips. Team Unleashed: Harnessing the Power of Teamwork to Achieve Breakthrough Results. [Publisher info—please insert if known].
• Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2005.

‍

#LeadershipDevelopment #LeadershipMatters #LeadWithTrust #LeadershipJourney #ExecutiveCoaching #HighPerformingTeams #TeamDevelopment #TeamLeadership #TeamTrust #PsychologicalSafety #OrganizationalCulture #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeEngagement #PeopleFirst #LeadershipLessons #GrowthMindset #LearningToLead #TrustInTheWorkplace #CoachingCulture