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iQuestions Faculty, Jack Herschend 
 
 
Question: 
 
How is trust a key part of leadership? 
 
Answer:   
 
As an organization grows, it’s essential that you bring in great people 
to run different aspects of the business—the marketing aspect, or the 
manufacturing component, or the financial component—and as you 
bring in skilled people who are skilled in their disciplines, it’s very 
important that the leader communicate that he or she trusts those 
people in their various disciplines. 
 
That aspect of trust is particularly important, as you get started with 
an individual new in your organization. It’s a leap of faith, so to speak, 
to say, “I don’t know you real well, but you know a lot about the 
business and your discipline, and I’m going to trust you,” but that’s 
the important message that needs to be sent. 
 
As I think about trust, it needs to be contrasted against abdication, 
which says, “I trust you, and I’m going to just walk away and not pay 
any attention.” That would be a mistake. 
 
All of us need accountability. All of us need to have someone who asks 
the tough questions. So, trust does not mean that you abdicate, but it 
does mean that you send the message that you’re willing to let that 
subordinate have a lot of rope, and are willing to see him or her make 
mistakes and learn from those mistakes.  
 
The company that actually celebrates mistakes, and then does a study 
on what we can learn from the mistakes we made, not only sends the 
 
 
message that “we trust,” but also that it’s all right for a subordinate to 
step up and make a tough but perhaps a good decision that is going to 
jumpstart us in a whole new direction.  
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