DTH-XII-0047
“People are following me because they trust me, and I refuse to waste that.”
Trust given freely is the heaviest thing a leader carries, and the most fragile. People have handed you their time, their effort, their belief. What you build with that is your legacy as a leader: people who grew under you, or people you used up. Mortality makes the choice clear. Build them.
Your Practice
- Ask of each decision: does this build my people or just my position?
- Develop someone past their current role this quarter. Growth is the leader's monument.
- Take the blame down and push the credit up. That's how trust compounds.
- Picture the eulogy your people would give of your leadership. Lead toward that.
The Architects
“I think one day maybe we can cure all disease with the help of AI.”
Demis Hassabis, 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley, CBS News, aired April 20, 2025