e 13 Behaviors of a High Trust Leader
Behaviors What to Say Opposite Counterfeit
Talk Straight
Be honest. Tell the truth. Let people know
where you stand.
Lie. Deceive. “Spinning,” positioning, posturing and
manipulating.
Demonstrate
Respect
Care for others and show it. Treat everyone
with respect, especially those who can’t do
anything for you.
Show disrespect
or not care about
others.
Faking respect, showing respect for some
but not all.
Create
Transparency
Tell the truth, be real, genuine, open and
authentic.
Hide, cover up,
obscure things.
Having hidden agendas, withholding
information.
Right Wrongs
Admit when you’re wrong, apologize quickly,
show humility, don’t let pride get in the way of
doing the right thing.
Deny, justify or
rationalize wrongful
behavior.
Cover up, disguise, hide mistakes until
forced to admit error.
Show Loyalty
Give credit to others, speak about people as
if they’re present and represent others who
aren’t there.
Take credit, betray
others.
Being gossipy and two-faced, appearing
to give credit when they’re present but
downplaying their contribution and taking
credit when they’re not around.
Deliver Results
Establish a track record of getting the right
things done. Make things happen, on-time and
within budget. As Yoda says, “Do or do not,
there is no try.”
Overpromise and
under-deliver.
Delivering activities instead of results -
doing busywork without accomplishing
anything real.
Get Better
Continuously improve. Increase your
capabilities. Be a constant learner. Don’t
consider yourself above feedback.
Rest on your laurels,
become irrelevant.
Learning but never producing, force-tting
things into what you’re good at.
Confront Reality
Tackle all issues head-on, even the
“undiscussables.” Address the tough stuff
directly. Confront the reality, not the person.
Ignore reality, be in
denial.
Focus on side issues while skirting the real
issues.
Clarify
Expectations
Disclose, reveal and validate expectations.
Don’t assume they’re clear or shared.
Renegotiate if needed/possible.
Leave expectations
unclear or
undened.
Guessing. Fail to pin down specics for
meaningful accountability.
Practice
Accountability
Hold yourself accountable rst, others second.
Take responsibility. Be clear on how you’ll
communicate how you’re doing and how others
are doing. Don’t blame.
Not take
responsibility.
Point ngers and blame others, fail to
enforce consequences when expectations
aren’t met.
Listen First
Listen before speaking. Understand, diagnose,
listen with ears, eyes and heart.
Speak rst and
listen last or not
listen at all.
Listen just to formulate your response,
pretend to listen.
Keep
Commitments
Say what you’ll do, then do it. Make
commitments carefully and keep them at all
costs. Don’t break condences.
Break commitments,
violate promises.
Make vague, elusive promises that can’t be
pinned down.
Extend Trust
Extend trust abundantly to those who’ve
earned it, conditionally to those who are still
earning it.
Withhold trust. Extend false trust - giving responsibility
without authority, then micromanage,
“snoopervise” and hover.
CHARACTER
COMPETENCE
CHARACTER + COMPETENCE