Episode 21 Show Notes — Trust Is Personal

Series:  It’s All Personal, 5 of 5

What do you think about at 2 a.m.?

If you’re like most founders, it’s not strategy decks or long-term plans.

It’s the meeting where your managers gave safe, predictable answers.

It’s the quiet room where no one moved until you did.

It’s the spiral: How did I get here? How do I keep going? How much longer can I do this?

That’s the founder’s blind spot.

It’s not that your team doesn’t trust you.

It’s that you don’t trust them.

This episode is for the founder who feels buried under the weight of every decision, wondering why the company keeps growing but their exhaustion only multiplies.

What you’ll take away:

• Why safe answers are a symptom of your leadership, not their incompetence
• How “fixing it faster” trains your managers to wait on you instead of leading
• The hidden cost of scaling without trust: bigger business, heavier burden
• What it feels like to finally rest easier — when you build a team you can truly trust

Reflection Questions:

• Where do you keep fixing things because it feels faster — but in reality, you’re slowing everyone down?
• If your managers could answer honestly, would they say you actually trust their judgment?
• What decisions are you holding onto that prove you don’t trust your team — and what would happen if you handed just one of them over this week?
• Are you building leaders who can carry the business forward, or are you just training followers who wait for you?

Links and Resources:

• The Next Question Guide → NextQuestionGuide.com
• LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/jamesmayhew
• Website → JamesMayhew.com

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Episode 21: Trust Is Personal

Arc: It’s All Personal

I worked with a founder once who couldn’t understand why his managers always seemed hesitant.

They weren’t incompetent. They weren’t lazy.

But they constantly second-guessed decisions, avoided risk, and waited for him to weigh in.

He was convinced it was an engagement issue — they weren’t as “bought in” as he thought they should be.

But the truth? It was trust.

And trust is always personal.

Hi, I’m James and you’re listening to the Leadership in 5 podcast.

This is the fifth and final episode in our It’s All Personal series — because execution might look operational, but it always comes down to people.

Have you ever made the assumption that when you hire someone, the role itself comes with built-in trust?

You give them the title.

You hand them the responsibilities.

And you reason.. that should be enough.

But trust doesn’t come with the job description.

It comes from you.

It comes from how you show up, how consistent you are, and whether the people on your team believe you’ll actually do what you say.

Think about the connections across this whole series:

Presence builds trust.

Ownership requires trust.

Feedback only works if trust is strong enough to carry it.

That’s why trust is personal. It’s not a policy. It’s not a value statement framed on the wall.

It’s the lived experience of people working with you every single day.

So how do you build it?

First, keep your promises small and visible.

It’s better to follow through on three little things than to overcommit and fall short. Trust erodes when your words and actions don’t match.

Second, tell the truth early — especially when it’s hard.

Don’t wait until bad news is obvious. Don’t sugarcoat what your people can already feel.

Trust cracks when leaders delay, disguise, or avoid the truth.

Third, close the loop.

Even on small things. Especially on small things.

When someone shares an idea, gives input, or raises a concern, silence erodes trust faster than almost anything else.

So here’s what I want you to reflect on:

• Where in your leadership has trust been compromised?
• What promise have you made — big or small — that still needs to be kept?
• If your team had a free pass to be perfectly honest, what’s one thing they might hesitate to trust you with right now?

Trust isn’t built in grand gestures.

It’s built in the small, personal choices you make every day.

And without it, nothing else in execution will hold.

And that’s worth thinking about today.

Show Notes

EPISODE 21 — Trust Is Personal

Arc: It’s All Personal

Execution might look operational, but it always comes down to people. And nothing determines execution more than trust.

In this episode, James explains why trust is always personal — not a policy, not a title, not a value statement on the wall. If you’re a founder leading a growing company, this episode will challenge the assumption that trust comes with the role.

You’ll learn how the absence of trust shows up in hesitation, second-guessing, and delay — and why leaders who confuse engagement or compliance with trust are setting themselves up for breakdowns in execution.

Takeaways:

• Trust doesn’t come with the job description — it comes from you.
• Presence builds trust, ownership requires trust, and feedback only works if trust is strong enough to carry it.
• Silence erodes trust faster than almost anything else.
• Small, visible promises build trust more than big commitments that go unmet.

Practical Application:

• Audit your promises. Where have you overcommitted and underdelivered? Start rebuilding trust with small, consistent follow-through.
• Practice truth-telling early. Don’t wait until people already know — say what they can feel but no one has said out loud.
• Close the loop. Always circle back when someone gives input, even if the answer is no.

Reflection Questions (from the episode):

• Where in your leadership have you confused compliance with trust?
• What promise have you made — big or small — that still needs to be kept?
• If your team was honest, what’s one thing they hesitate to trust you with right now?

Bonus Reflection Questions (go deeper):

• What patterns do you see in when and where trust breaks down on your team?
• Who on your team do you trust instinctively — and why? What would it take to extend that same trust to others?
• How do you respond when trust is broken? Do you withdraw, avoid, or engage with it directly?

Links and Resources:

The right question changes everything. Grab the free Next Question Guide → NextQuestionGuide.com

Connect with James on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/jamesmayhew

Learn more at → JamesMayhew.com