Trust & Inspire

Traditional command-and-control leadership treats people like fleas in a jar.

If you put fleas in a glass jar, they quickly jump out. Put more fleas in the same jar, screw a lid on and the fleas will smash themselves against the inside of the lid trying to gain freedom.

Can you guess what happens when you remove the lid? Although the fleas now could jump out easily, they won’t even try. They don’t want to hurt themselves banging up against a possible obstruction. You have conditioned them against jumping out of the jar and have severely circumscribed their potential.

Archaic command-and-control management resembles this harsh conditioning and limits the capacity of its people. The time has come to retire this approach and replace it with a system that earns people’s trust and inspires them.

Wise executives and managers now embrace a new leadership method and mind-set: “Trust & Inspire.”

Trust-and-inspire leadership respects and empowers people. 

Trust and inspire is a fresh way to exercise leadership. It maximizes everyone’s possibilities for growth, makes the most of people...