The trust gap in leadership: How it’s costing your business

The trust gap in leadership

Trust isn’t just a soft skill—it’s the foundation of strong leadership and sustainable business success. Learn how trust gaps in leadership fuel disengagement, turnover, and toxic cultures—and what it takes to rebuild credibility and integrity at the top in this exclusive contributor piece by Sarah Needham.

Trust isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a business currency. Yet, many leaders unknowingly spend it recklessly, creating a dangerous trust gap between company values and daily reality. The cost? High employee turnover, disengagement, and a toxic culture that stifles long-term growth.

The trust gap: Overview

• The trust gap: Where leadership fails
• Lessons from high-profile leadership failures
• How to close the trust gap in your business
• The future demands a new kind of leadership

The trust gap: Where leadership fails

It’s easy to assume trust is built automatically with a leadership title. But true trust is earned through honesty, consistency, and respect—principles we naturally apply in personal relationships yet often neglect in the workplace.

Leaders who bend the truth, contradict themselves or make short-term decisions that clash with company values erode trust faster than they realise. The effects ripple through the organisation:

• Employees disengage when they see hypocrisy at the top.
• Toxic behaviours spread when bad leaders are rewarded.
• Good talent leaves, citing poor leadership as a key reason in exit interviews.

Lessons from high-profile leadership failures

We’ve seen real-world examples of how trust breakdowns damage even the biggest organisations:

• Facebook’s data scandals: Repeated failures to protect user privacy and misleading public statements have caused widespread distrust, regulatory scrutiny, and employee disillusionment.
• WeWork’s leadership collapse: Former CEO Adam Neumann’s extravagant spending and erratic decision-making led to the company’s failed IPO and loss of investor confidence.
• Uber’s toxic culture: Revelations of discrimination, harassment, and unethical leadership practices under former CEO Travis Kalanick forced a major leadership overhaul to rebuild trust.

Each of these cases highlights a fundamental truth: When leaders prioritise short-term wins over trust and integrity, the long-term costs are devastating.

How to close the trust gap in your business

Building trust isn’t about perfection—it’s about transparency and accountability. Leaders who want to create sustainable, high-performance cultures must commit to:

1. Honest communication – Stop dressing up short-term financial decisions as “transformation.” Call them what they are and explain the real strategy behind them.
2. Living the values – If your company claims to value integrity, demonstrate it through actions, not just words. Employees notice when leadership doesn’t walk the talk.
3. Courageous leadership – Holding leaders accountable, even at the highest levels, fosters a culture where trust is non-negotiable.
4. Long-term thinking – Sustainable success requires decisions aligned with the company’s vision, not just the next quarterly target.

The future demands a new kind of leadership

No one sets out to be a bad leader, but without curiosity and courage, it’s easy to fall into patterns that erode trust. In an era of economic and political instability, businesses need leaders who can build long-term, sustainable growth—not just hit short-term metrics.

That means creating a workplace where trust is foundational, values are lived, and leadership is accountable. Because the real transformation most businesses need isn’t another reorg—it’s a simple but strong commitment to integrity.

Where does your leadership stand? Are you closing the trust gap—or widening it?

HotTopics contributing editor Sarah Needham is an executive leadership coach to CEOs and C-level leadership teams at Unique-U Coaching, helping clients leverage their strengths to optimise business goals, realise their ambitions and take control of their future. Needham is a Professional Certified Coach with ICF and BCorp leader.