After four years and nearly 100 episodes of exploring what it means to build trust on purpose, we're coming to you today with a different kind of conversation; one that's deeply personal and one of the hardest we've had.

Ila shares why she's stepping away from the podcast, and Charles reflects on what these four years of partnership, friendship, and shared commitment to trust have meant. This is two people who have walked each other through profound conversations about vulnerability, care, and what it means to show up authentically, now navigating a significant transition together.

We built this community believing that trust is something we choose to cultivate intentionally, especially in moments of uncertainty and change. Today, we're living that truth.

We talk about what we've learned from each other, from our guests, and from you, our listeners, who have been part of this journey. We share what Ila will carry forward from this work, and how Charles will continue the conversations about trust in new ways.

This episode is about gratitude. It's about honouring what has been while making space for what needs to come next. It's about trusting the process, even when it's not the one we would have chosen.

Thank you for being part of our story. Thank you for trusting us with yours.

With deep appreciation and love, Charles & Ila

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

You've messed up. You know it. Your team knows it. A lot of leaders know that sinking "Oh sh!t" feeling of realizing they've done something to break their team's trust. 

In this episode, we dig into a real story of broken trust: the situation, the impacts, and what ultimately turned things around.

We walk through the moves that reopened honest dialogue and rebuilt psychological safety; from the leader acknowledging their oops without making excuses to co-designing a repair plan with the team. You'll hear practical guidance for leaders to work through a sticky situation: prompts to surface the problem, ways to structure the repair conversation, and tools to prevent repeat breaks.

Above all, this conversation emphasizes the foundation that makes repair possible: care. When people feel considered before decisions are made, they'll give you grace when you stumble and they'll stand with you as you repair.

If you listen and it helps you lead with more courage and care, follow the show, save it, share it, and leave a quick review to help others find us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What if moving faster with AI didn't mean giving up your judgment?

We sit down with Lindsay Semas, an AI leader who's spent years building trustworthy technology at scale, to explore the gap between what AI can do and what we should let it do - from drafting emails to shaping customer strategy.

We start with the quick wins: smarter research, better first drafts, fewer browser tabs. Then we get into the harder stuff: how to earn trust in AI outputs by asking for sources, questioning what's missing, and matching your scrutiny to the stakes. Lindsay introduces a sliding-scale approach: lean on AI for synthesis, but keep humans in the loop when outcomes touch customers, compliance, or your reputation.

The real heart of the conversation: Governance. Lindsay walks us through how her company built a cross-functional trust council, complete with checklists, accountability structures, and clear guidelines on when AI decisions need human oversight. We also tackle the anxiety around job displacement and the pace of change.

Whether you're leading a team or just trying to use these tools better, this one's for you.

Subscribe, share with a colleague, and let us know what resonates.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What if trust didn't depend on heroic one-to-one fixes, but on the environment you design every day?

In this new episode, we explore what it means to shift from "I build trust with you" to "I build a space where everyone can build, maintain, and repair trust with each other." 

Through real stories and practical moves, we map out the leadership behaviours that make trust the default: intentionality in how you bring your team together, asking questions instead of solving problems, surfacing values, and creating structures for reliability and repair.

If you're ready to lead a team where honesty is safe, accountability is normal, and collaboration moves faster because people feel respected, this one's for you.

Listen, subscribe, and share with a leader who needs to hear this.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What happens when your early life didn't teach you how to trust? How do you learn vulnerability and honesty when those skills were never modeled for you?

We sit down with Andy Vasily - Leadership / Performance Coach, Podcast Host and Educational Consultant - to explore how trust is a learnable competency, not something you're born with. We dig into the neuroscience behind protective behaviors, why withholding information robs others of learning, and how naming emotions transforms defensive meetings into productive ones. Andy explains how leaders who seek to understand how experiences have shaped their team members, before jumping to solutions, create far more effective outcomes.

We examine the power of understanding our own propensity to trust, our ability to repair when we fall short, and how practicing small behaviors until they become second nature allow us to create space in which trust can grow. You'll learn why vulnerability is a performance advantage, how eight seconds of genuine acknowledgment can make someone feel truly seen, and the practical steps that build psychological safety.

If you've wondered whether you can learn to trust differently than you were taught, this episode offers the language, mindset, and next steps to start building trust you can count on.

Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review telling us the one trust behavior you'll try next.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Overwhelm never asks permission. When it hits, our reflex is to work harder and push through. Yet that often distracts us from the one thing that restores clarity: pausing. In this new episode of Trust on Purpose, we dive into the difference between a nourishing pause and disassociation, how awareness of our sensations helps us return from checkout mode, and how small rituals create the space where we can make better choices.

We share simple ways to practice pausing to regain calm and rebuild trust in your own inner wisdom. Then we connect the dots to leadership in unlocking a team’s intelligence, reducing decision anxiety, and sparking creativity in the uncertainty most leaders try to outrun.

You’ll hear candid stories about over-planning, the fear of not having all the answers, and how surrender-in-doses becomes a practical skill. We talk about listening to the uncomfortable answers that arise when we finally get quiet, and how to hold them without rushing into action. Expect grounded tools, warm honesty, and a reframe of uncertainty as fertile ground for innovation, trust, and more humanness in our work.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What happens when you choose long-term trust over short-term speed? Psychologist Susan David's powerful question launches us into a revealing exploration of how trust-building decisions fundamentally transform outcomes.

This episode contrasts two dramatically different approaches to organizational change. On one hand, a team that prioritizes rapid implementation, making unilateral decisions and forcing solutions on users can lead to active sabotage and project failure. Another that invests time upfront in building trust-filled relationships and understanding, creating psychological safety can enjoy dramatic success.

The surprising insight: Prioritizing trust building up front doesn't necessarily extend timelines. Strong trust foundations allow teams to move quickly when it matters most, while preventing the costly rework cycles that sink speed-focused strategies.

Listen to discover how trust conversations can transform your most important connections.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What if the secret to breakthrough results isn't working harder but making better promises? Bob Dunham, founder of the Institute for Generative Leadership, reveals the power of trustworthy commitments in creating extraordinary outcomes.

Dunham challenges the mechanistic approach dominating today's workplace, where employees are treated as production units rather than humans with creative potential. "We've left out being human; everything's being mechanized," he explains. He goes on to explain that this blindness to our human capacity restricts the value that can be created, and waking up to this opens up a whole new world.

At the heart of Dunham's Generative Leadership discipline lies a powerful distinction between responsibility and accountability that transforms how we approach work. While many use these terms interchangeably, Dunham clarifies and contrasts them, leading us to reject blame and excuses, and focus instead on what can be done despite inevitable challenges.

Dunham shares how he applied these principles to turn around a Silicon Valley software engineering department that hadn't delivered products in two and a half years. The key wasn't superhuman effort, but rather creating systems that supported responsibility at all levels.

For listeners struggling with accountability issues, unmotivated teams, or untrustworthy commitments, this conversation offers practical wisdom on building cultures where people consistently deliver superior results by reconnecting our humanity with our work.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

"I shouldn't have to explain this." Sound familiar? A lot of leaders feel this way about making clear requests of people. It creates a destructive cycle: vague directions lead to poor results, which fuel resentment and reinforce the belief that explanation shouldn't be necessary.

The hidden cost is teams divided between mind-readers and the confused, while everyone wastes time "spinning," trying to guess what leaders actually want. What feels like giving creative freedom often creates anxiety and inefficiency instead.

We explore how cultural pressure to move fast reinforces communication shortcuts, yet spending time on clear requests upfront saves massive time fixing problems later. We'll challenge you to ask yourself: "Am I more committed to my belief that I shouldn't have to explain this, or to getting the result I want?"

Whether you're a frustrated leader or someone constantly guessing what your boss wants, this episode offers practical insights to break the cycle. Notice your own "shoulding" and consider whether it's serving you and your team.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What happens when we trust life enough to put down our armour and show up authentically? Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer takes us on a journey through the transformative power of creative practice and how it builds the muscle of trust - in life, in ourselves - that we need in our most challenging moments.

Rosemerry opens our conversation with her powerful poem "Growing Trust," asking why we would ever "slip back into armour" when life itself is waiting to move through us. She shares how her commitment to writing poems daily completely shifted her relationship with creativity, moving from perfectionism to valuing truth and authenticity above all else. This daily practice became about cultivating a way of being present with whatever arises.

The parallels between creative practice and leadership emerge throughout our discussion; when leaders do their own inner work, others can sense it, creating psychological safety without effort. As one of Rosemerry's students expressed, "I trust you because I can tell you've done your work." This embodied authenticity allows leaders to create spaces where vulnerability and creativity can thrive.

Rosemerry's wisdom offers a powerful invitation to trust what emerges when we get out of our own way and open ourselves to the inherent creativity of life itself.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What truly makes a good leader? We dive into this question by challenging ourselves to identify the qualities that matter most – and then getting real about how we're actually doing.

We share some of our own leadership strengths and blind spots, but the conversation quickly evolves into something more interesting: How do you even know if you're leading well? Turns out, your body might have more answers than you think.

We wrestle with some of the trickier aspects of leadership – like how to balance your time and energy across your team, when to make tough calls about people, and why the idea of the all-knowing leader is pretty much a myth.

Leadership isn't something you figure out once or on in solitude. It's an ongoing practice that requires honest self-reflection, building the right support network, and a willingness to call for support when needed. And trust? It's woven into everything; trust in ourselves, in thought partners, in sources of feedback and in the feedback they offer, in our bodies, and our emotions.

We wrap up with a challenge, actually a "Double Dog Dare," that might sound simple but could change how you think about your leadership. Ready to take it on? We'd love to hear what you discover.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Have you ever felt that weighty silence in a team meeting when dissatisfaction hangs in the air but remains unspoken? That silence might be eroding trust beneath the surface of your relationships and organizations.

In this conversation, we explore how dissatisfaction manifests across different contexts - from personal relationships to large organizations, with special focus on team dynamics when remaining quiet creates invisible barriers.

We discuss how leaders can recognize the signs of team dissatisfaction before it undermines culture and introduce ideas for addressing it productively. The conversation also touches on our challenging relationship with self-disappointment and why we often avoid confronting uncomfortable emotions.

Join us as we unpack this universal experience that affects every relationship but rarely gets the attention it deserves and discover how properly addressing dissatisfaction can be the catalyst for rebuilding trust and connection in your most important relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Could love be the key to workplace innovation, productivity, and social change? Amy Elizabeth Fox, CEO of Mobius Consulting, thinks so. We have a fascinating conversation with her in which she advocates integrating healing practices and psycho-spiritual transformation into organizations, challenging the idea that caring connection and high performance are mutually exclusive.

Amy believes our current reality (which she describes as brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible) requires stronger emotional connections within organizations, yet most workplaces remain stuck in outdated models that view emotions and vulnerability as weaknesses.

Tune in to hear how embracing love in business and recognizing others' inherent dignity, organizations can become powerful catalysts for broader social change.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Psychologist Dr. Jody Carrington joins us to discuss the paradoxical nature of being human: we are biologically wired for connection, yet struggle to truly see each other. Drawing from her work with first responders and children, she explains how emotional regulation builds trust and why distrust often stems from trauma rather than choice.

We explore how digital connectivity, sleep deprivation, and fractured attention hijack our nervous systems, undermining our capacity for trust and empathy. Dr. Carrington offers simple yet transformative practices that serve as neurobiological interventions and suggests that humanity's purpose may be helping each other navigate life with greater calm and compassion.

Listen to discover how practicing emotional regulation might be the revolution our disconnected world needs most.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Trust-building isn’t just a nice concept; it can be identified as a key performance indicator that can reshape how consistently people build and maintain trust within an organization and even with external stakeholders.

We're joined by Sandra Rose and Leonie von Uthmann from NRICHED, who introduce their groundbreaking tool, TrustY - an innovative product that puts a number on trust in your organization. Together, we break down the four essential pillars of trust - sincerity, reliability, competence, and care - and explore how each one impacts workplace dynamics and how each can be measured to pinpoint opportunities for strengthening.

Sandra and Leonie share real-world stories that show how companies can measure and improve trust levels, leading to more engaged teams and less turnover. And we tackle the shift from seeing trust as a "soft skill" to recognizing it as a vital business metric that drives success.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In our latest episode, we talk about the often-overlooked but game-changing aspect of flexible leadership with Kevin Eikenberry, a well-known author and leadership expert. As leadership gets more complex, knowing how to be flexible gives leaders the tools they need to handle uncertainty. Kevin shares how leaders can develop an adaptive mindset based on intention and awareness, helping them respond to challenges on the fly.

You'll hear Kevin's take on self-reflection, understanding context, and why moving away from rigid answers creates a more collaborative environment. As always, our conversation blends theory with practical approaches, showing that flexibility isn't about abandoning your values; it's about enhancing how you respond to different situations while staying true to yourself.

Kevin has generously offered a unique gift for our listeners:  KevinEikenberry.com/gift

Join us for a great conversation about building trust and vulnerability in leadership roles and how these elements help create resilient, high-performing teams. Whether you're a veteran leader or just starting out, this episode offers insights that can transform your leadership approach.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

How often do you blame yourself for not doing enough to support the people who work for and with you? If you do, it turns out you aren’t alone.

In this episode, we look at what happens to leaders when they carry the belief they aren’t doing enough—for the teams they lead and the teams they are on. We consider examples of people we’ve coached who lived with some version of this story, and the suffering it produces, including breakdowns in trust, frustration, exhaustion, and despair.

You will also hear about leaders who found their way out of the “I’m not doing enough” story, and how coaching can support such a journey. Spoiler alert: the antidote to not enough is NOT doing more. Rather, it involves honest, clear-eyed self-reflection, some vulnerability, and the courage to ask for help.

Our hope is that this episode will inspire leaders caught in this belief to recognize that an unqualified “enough” has no upper limit, and instead to discover what their team members really need to do their jobs well.  

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What happens when you pour your heart into work only to be met with silence? Or have you ever felt the sting of being ignored after applying, and even interviewing, for a job? You’re not alone. In a new episode of Trust on Purpose, we unravel the silent killer of workplace trust - ghosting.

The frustrating reality of unacknowledged contributions almost always erodes trust. From candidates experiencing profound disappointment and companies unknowingly tarnishing their reputations, to employees becoming disengaged and resentful, we shine a light on the critical importance of closure and honest communication.

Drawing on our own experiences and Brene Brown's principle that "clear is kind," we discuss how a lack of transparency and acknowledgment can leave people feeling undervalued and relationships strained. The key to transforming your professional interactions? A small shift in awareness.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Join us as we explore a field-tested framework for building and repairing trust. Drawing from "The Thin Book of Trust," we break down the four essential assessments that shape our choice to trust others. Discover why some relationships feel like safe harbours while others leave us constantly on guard, and learn how to navigate the complex dynamics of trust in all areas of life.

Whether you're looking to strengthen trust in individual relationships or build more effective teams, this episode offers practical insights into one of humanity's most fundamental needs.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Every broken New Year's resolution leaves a crack in something far more precious than our goals - it fractures the trust we hold with ourselves. In this episode, we confront the damage of making promises we never truly intended to keep, and how these seemingly small betrayals ripple through our lives, relationships, and leadership.

Our own personal stories illuminate why simply understanding our failures isn't enough - we must dive beneath the surface to examine the deeper impact of our choices. This isn't just another conversation about goal-setting; it's about rebuilding the bridge of self-trust, one mindful commitment at a time. 

We also venture into the challenging terrain of modern leadership, where the pressure to have all the answers can suffocate authentic growth. Discover why the most powerful words a leader can speak might be "I don't know," and how this vulnerability creates a foundation for genuine trust and innovation. Join us as we explore how embracing uncertainty - rather than fighting it - becomes the catalyst for transformative change, both personally and professionally.

This episode isn't about perfect resolutions; it's about perfect honesty with ourselves and others, and how that honesty becomes the foundation of meaningful growth and lasting change.


This episode isn't about perfect resolutions; it's about perfect honesty with ourselves and others, and how that honesty becomes the foundation of meaningful growth and lasting change.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ever wondered how avoiding difficult conversations could be sabotaging your relationships and your career? Join us as we explore the art of timely communication, inspired by insights from Joseph Grenny's "Crucial Conversations." We delve into the reasons we shy away from those essential talks, whether it's fear, procrastination, or the pressures of a fast-paced environment. We share personal anecdotes and reflect on our own internal battles that hold us back from addressing critical issues.

 We'll guide you through the complexities of workplace communication and trust, and provide practical advice for maintaining your core values and assessing your role if you're consistently avoiding necessary dialogues at work.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In a world that demands constant multitasking and perfection, it’s easy for self-trust to slip through the cracks. In this episode of Trust on Purpose, we dive into what it really means to trust yourself and how it shapes both your personal and professional life.  

We share an honest conversation about how life’s changes can shake our confidence and why it’s okay (and even helpful) to let go of the pressure to remember everything and focus on what truly matters. You’ll hear practical ways to tell the difference between real concerns and fear-based doubts and about the power of being honest about your limits and how that honesty can build stronger trust with yourself and others. And when it comes to intuition, we explore how pairing your gut instincts with data and experience can lead to better, more grounded decisions.  

This episode is packed with relatable insights and practical tips to help you strengthen your self-trust, lean into vulnerability, and create a more authentic life - at work and beyond. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Get ready to dive deep in this episode of Trust on Purpose, where hosts Charles Feltman and Ila Edgar tackle big questions around trust and artificial intelligence - starting with a curious twist! It kicks off with the story of a school project involving AI-generated sloth images - yes, sloths - and quickly jumps into a thought-provoking conversation about the ripple effects of AI on trust in our daily lives. Can we believe everything we see and hear in a world where AI is increasingly behind the scenes? Charles and Ila dig into the complexities of transparency, potential deception, and our ethical responsibility to be upfront about AI's role in the content we create and consume.

This episode is more about asking questions than answering them, guiding listeners through the foggy territory where trust and tech overlap. Charles and Ila discuss how openness and integrity can keep psychological safety alive in our teams and relationships, especially as AI takes a bigger role in shaping what we see and believe. Tune in for a candid, unfiltered discussion on navigating trust in a digital age where things aren’t always what they seem!

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Today, we’re diving into a question that strikes at the heart of workplace dynamics: can a truly great workplace happen without a team-wide effort, or is it solely the leader's responsibility? We draw inspiration from Tom Geraghty's insightful perspective from a recent conversation: "A great workplace is worth working for." We’re flipping the usual script on who drives work dynamics and culture. Spoiler: everyone does - for better or worse! We explore why having clear, candid conversations about workplace culture isn’t just nice-to-have, but essential. And how sudden shifts, like unexpected return-to-office mandates, can impact employee morale and trust.

Inspired by Adam Grant’s "Think Again," we tackle the importance of challenging old assumptions and encouraging tough conversations. From small improvements that open the door to big changes, to stories from our own clients on the power of leading by example, this episode is underpinned with practical advice. We’ll reveal how safe, respectful dialogue can turn potential conflict into a powerful learning experience. We unlock what it takes to build a workplace where everyone feels invested, valued, and able to thrive. Whether you’re a leader or a team player, there’s something here for you.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Tom Geraghty, we explore the critical role of psychological safety and how leaders can model it for their teams. He explains how creating a psychologically safe environment isn’t just about good intentions, but about understanding how your team's lived experiences shape their perception of safety. Tom outlines actionable steps for leaders: from openly discussing psychological safety and being aware of power dynamics, to acknowledging and reinforcing behaviors that foster a safe space.

Tom also dives into the cultural and neurodiverse factors that influence how team members perceive psychological safety and why leaders must adapt their approaches to accommodate these differences. Finally, Tom debunks the "reinforcement and punishment" myth, showing how punishing mistakes can silence important feedback and why thanking your team for sharing bad news is crucial. Leadership isn’t about avoiding problems but creating an environment where they can be safely addressed.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Get a glimpse into our conversation with Tom as we share exclusive snippets from before the actual episode recording. Hear firsthand how Tom’s unique career path has shaped his focus on psychological safety and his passion for creating thriving workplace environments. We dive into the heart of what makes failure a valuable teacher and why understanding what is "safe to fail" is an essential discussion for leaders. This episode isn’t just about work—it's about reshaping how you approach challenges in every aspect of life. Whether you're leading a team or navigating personal growth, Tom's insights are bound to inspire a transformative shift in mindset.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles sit down with Tom Geraghty of Psych Safety - a group that works with organizations around the world to achieve improved innovation, better error-handling and prevention, and more resilience by creating and maintaining an environment of psychological safety.

Tom starts by diving into the differences between trust and psychological safety, then takes a second, deeper dive into the value of experimentation, failure, and learning. He describes how organizations and industries that have a high cost of failure and those that require extreme safety sensitivity have experienced failure (and it hurt!), as well as the learning that comes from failure and how to mitigate or prevent future failures. Organizations and industries that don’t have the same degree of failure consequence haven’t necessarily experienced the benefit of learning from things that don’t go as planned. 

Tom shares what it means to be an experimentalist and describes the huge value of focusing the outcome of work on the learning rather than the execution, being less focused on achieving perfection and more concerned with what we can learn. 

This is the perfect trio to have a very human conversation about how trust intersects with psychological safety in our every day, and they don’t shy away from discussing the psychological safety “baggage” we all carry, and how it impacts how we experience new situations. 

This is Part 1 of a 2 part series with Tom Geraghty. Come back for Part 2 in two weeks, when Tom explains how leaders can achieve psychological safety, taking into account the baggage we all have on our backs.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

What happens when someone you trust asks you to trust someone else based solely on their own trust of that person? “I trust them, so you should too.” In this episode, we dive deep into the delicate and often complicated concept of trust transfer. This dynamic plays out in workplaces everywhere and can affect relationships, team cohesion, and even organizational success.

 We explore the risks and nuances tied to referrals that are based on third-party trust, how different individuals assess trustworthiness, and why being told to trust someone based on another’s recommendation doesn’t always sit right. We unpack how trust transfer commonly occurs during significant change, where organizations expect people to accept and even champion changes, despite not feeling fully included in the process. Leaders often expect their teams to "trust the process", but that can create a sense of obligation and even alienation. And resistance often comes when change is imposed, but it can be mitigated with genuine involvement and care for those most impacted. Lastly, we discuss the fine line between cynicism and skepticism and how each can influence the culture of a team or organization and the relationships within them.

Whether you’re a leader, team member, or navigating a significant change, this episode offers valuable insights into the unseen dynamics of trust transfer.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, we dive deep into the profound wisdom of intuition and explore why it's more than just a source of answers - it's an invitation to sit with the questions that matter most. We discuss the importance of listening to our gut and how it bypasses rational thinking to tap into a deeper knowing.

We'll explore the gift of cultivating and trusting our intuition, even when society and workplace cultures push us to do more, plan more, and achieve more. How do we trust the whispers from our body that tell us to slow down? How does our "doing" mind react to pausing? And what happens when we make a full-body commitment to what our intuition tells us?

We invite you to gift yourself time and space to be with yourself - without distractions. We'll discuss the discomfort that comes with this practice and why it’s essential to normalize it.

This episode invites you to turn down the noise, pay attention to what your body is telling you, and see what unfolds when you truly listen.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles sit down with Dan Newby, Founder of The School of Emotions, coach, and acclaimed author of five books. Dan is a fervent advocate for emotional literacy, working with educators, leaders, coaches, and families globally. He shares his insights on how understanding emotions can address many of our personal and organizational challenges.

Dan delves into the concept of emotional literacy as a vital life skill, emphasizing the significant benefits of learning to understand and articulate our emotions. Together, the three of us explore:

• What trust is, and how different emotions foster a sense of trust
• The vast spectrum of human emotions and their impact on trust
• How certain emotions, like skepticism and affection, influence our decisions to trust or distrust
• Understanding the purpose and data behind our emotions, moving beyond the simplistic labels of “good” or “bad” based on how they make us feel

Don’t miss this thought-provoking discussion that challenges conventional views on emotions and their role in our daily lives.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We sit down with Joseph Myers, trust specialist, renowned speaker, consultant, and author, to discuss our shared mission of leading a movement of more trust. Joseph helps people imagine, reframe, and refocus to foster transparency, engagement, and loyalty. He challenges the notion that trust is an either-or situation, instead exploring the complex interplay between trust and distrust.

We delve into the neuroscience of trust and distrust, examining where each occurs in the brain. Joseph explains that while distrust is natural and important for our safety, it needs to be used differently than we most often do. By learning to harness distrust as a guide, we can come to trust more safely and more often.

We discuss how, even when distrust exists, people and teams can still collaborate effectively if they manage their distrust differently. He emphasizes that trust will inevitably be broken or damaged and that it’s crucial to humanize these experiences. Join us as we explore these profound ideas and learn how to build stronger, more resilient relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

This is Part II of a special guest episode, where we delve into how trust manifests and shapes societies across the globe - with Andy Vasily. 

Andy has immersed himself in diverse cultures and gained invaluable insights into the dynamics of trust in the many places he and his family have called home. He highlights Charles' book, "The Thin Book of Trust," as a valuable resource for understanding trust dynamics across cultures and we discuss how different cultural perceptions of care, sincerity, reliability, and competence shape interpersonal relationships and interactions.

The conversation takes a reflective turn as Andy emphasizes the universal human desire for connection and belonging. Drawing from personal experiences, he shares how prioritizing self-care has empowered him to cultivate trust within his relationships and emphasizes the importance of psychological safety in nurturing personal growth and fostering connections.

We invite listeners to embrace the inherent caring nature within each of us, and encourage a shift towards prioritizing values that promote trust and authenticity, both within ourselves and in our interactions with others.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this special guest episode, we delve into the world of trust - how it manifests, evolves, and shapes societies across the globe - with Andy Vasily. Andy is a Leadership/Performance Coach, Podcaster, and seasoned traveler who has immersed himself in diverse cultures and gained invaluable insights into the dynamics of trust in the many places he and his family have called home. 

Drawing from his rich, sometimes harrowing, experiences, Andy shares the nuances of trust in various corners of the world. As he describes how he has experienced trust in places like Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, and Azerbaijan, together we ponder the balance between competence-based trust and the human bonds forged through care and sincerity.

We would happily have talked with Andy for hours and since our conversation ended up being longer than our typical episode, we’ve broken it into two. This episode (67) is the first part.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode of Trust on Purpose, Ila and Charles delve into the intricacies of honest communication and its profound impact on trust. Inspired by a quote from James Clear, they explore the concept that "a truth unsaid can still be felt" and discuss the implications of withholding truths in personal and professional relationships. 

Drawing from personal experiences and coaching insights, our hosts discuss the need to navigate a delicate balance between speaking up authentically and avoiding hurtful communication. From exploring the discomfort of ‘clearing the air’ to discussing ways to foster psychological safety in teams, they provide practical tips for navigating difficult conversations and repairing communication breakdowns. Through candid dialogue, they underscore the importance of vulnerability, empathy, and genuine connection in building trust within relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles talk with Sean Joyce about his personal journey to becoming a trusted team leader. He challenges the notion that anyone is fully prepared for a leadership role, emphasizing the more realistic, nuanced and gradual evolution of becoming an effective leader.

Sean emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of collaboration and discusses the significance of transparency, acknowledging imperfections, and creating opportunities for open dialogue within the team. He believes that trust is built when we provide our teams the opportunity to work together toward a clear objective. Sean highlights the role of leaders as facilitators, solution providers, and catalysts for teamwork and innovation - not as someone who has all the answers.

Whether you're a seasoned leader or just embarking on your leadership journey, this episode offers practical advice on cultivating authenticity, setting clear shared objectives, prioritizing the collective success of the team, and, of course, building and maintaining trust.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In the newest episode of their Trust on Purpose podcast, hosts Charles Feltman and Ila Edgar are joined by Michelle Brody - clinical psychologist, executive coach, and author of Own Your Armor - Revolutionary Change for Workplace Culture. Michelle offers insightful guidance on navigating workplace dynamics and delves into the intricate nature of conflict within teams. Drawing from her extensive experience, Michelle explains how understanding and owning one's armor - the behaviors we adopt to protect ourselves in response to perceived threats - can transform a team's culture. Tune in to explore how recognizing and managing armor can lead to more authentic and productive relationships in the workplace.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Welcome to the episode about building habits, where we discuss the trust-building behaviours that define our relationships and how to make them habits. Our conversation is inspired by a question posed by James Clear, in a recent issue of his newsletter: “Are the results I'm expecting aligned with the habits I’m following each day?” 

We often intend to act in ways that build trust, yet our habitual behaviours may not always reflect our intentions. How do we bridge the gap? Join us as we navigate the process of habit change, understanding that replacing old habits requires more than sheer willpower. We discuss the reality of not getting it right the first time and the necessity of practice to build new habits, and offer practical strategies for initiating change.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Whether spoken or unspoken, complaints can either foster trust or erode it within relationships. Ila and Charles delve into the intricate dynamics of trust, communication, and the often-overlooked causes and impacts of complaints. The conversation explores the importance of making clear and complete requests in driving desired outcomes and the many implications of expressing our grievances. They also explore the impact of unspoken grievances on relationships, from breeding resentment to undermining trust. Listeners are encouraged to ask themselves the tough questions: Is my complaint fair? Were my expectations clear? Am I avoiding difficult conversations? Do I care about salvaging the relationship?

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles dive into the fascinating world of embodied learning with Dr. Amanda Blake, the award-winning author of "Your Body is Your Brain" and the visionary behind the “Body = Brain” experiential leadership course. In this captivating podcast, we explore a simple, powerful, science-based practice for harnessing the power of body and mind together to develop desired personal qualities.

Learn how to engage both your brain and body in the learning process, whether it's mastering the invaluable competency of trust-building, cultivating trustworthiness within yourself, or any quality you wish to develop. Using a holistic approach, Dr. Blake unveils a transformative process that combines conceptual self-awareness, embodied self-awareness, and relational skills to support human growth and development. Discover how to practice and refine these behaviours, transforming them into natural expressions of who you are.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Uncover the secrets to maintaining trust despite disagreements in our latest episode, where Ila and Charles delve into why dissent doesn't have to spell distrust. As we walk you through the delicate interplay of expressing differing opinions, you'll gain strategies for keeping trust intact. Our experiences with clients in the throes of work-related disputes serve as a rich backdrop for this discussion, highlighting the role of psychological safety and the four trust domains. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Our first episode of 2024 addresses a listener question: What do I do when my leader doesn't believe that I'm at capacity? Imagine your leader has asked you to take on new work and you are stunned. You think, “Can’t you see I already have too much to do?!” You try to tell them, but they don’t seem to believe you. Trust issue alert! Ila and Charles discuss the importance of building a foundation of trust so disbelief doesn’t creep in, and how you can address it when it does, while building trust in the process.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

 When commitments are made by a leader (“Yes, my team can do that!”) without asking the people who will have to do the work, the inevitable outcome is an erosion of trust - both between the leader and their team, and with whoever they made the commitment to, if the team falls short. Ila and Charles dive into a topic raised by a listener for this “Ask us anything” episode, discussing how, if leaders want to maintain strong trust with their teams and other stakeholders, they need to take time to check in with their teams before committing.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Being vulnerable in the workplace can be challenging for people. Yet trusting others is inherently an act of vulnerability: we can’t get to trust without it. Deciding when, with whom, how, and to what extent to demonstrate vulnerability is part of the competency of trust-building. Discussing these decisions makes for a deeply human conversation between Ila and Charles.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Whether you are giving advice when it hasn’t been requested or receiving advice that you haven’t asked for, there is potential for a direct and damaging hit to trust in the relationship. The messages - often unintentional - that are sent revolve around us not trusting the other person’s competence or them not trusting ours. Ila and Charles have an eye-opening discussion about why people jump to offer advice when not asked, what messages it sends when we do, and what we can say when we want to offer help so it is received in the way it is intended.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Lies and omissions damage trust. That might sound painfully obvious, and you may think, “I never hide information, and I certainly don’t lie.” In reality, we have all likely been in situations where we don’t feel comfortable sharing everything we know, so we make a quick decision to keep quiet without considering possible consequences. Ila and Charles talk about what leads us to lie or withhold information (spoiler alert: reasons include unexamined assumptions, high pressure, and unclear expectations), and how we can build greater trust in our relationships with intention and practice.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We’ve all been there - someone has said or done something that causes us to feel defensive and drives us to dig our heels into our “rightness,” fighting against anything that invalidates it. Good-bye trust. Ila and Charles have experienced trust breakdowns with clients even as professional coaches. They share their experiences and insights into how defensiveness erodes trust and what we can do to create relationships in which people feel safe to discuss feelings of defensiveness.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Charles and Ila continue their conversation with Angela Cusack, executive coach and author of ”Discover the Matrix. Integrity: The True Mark of Leadership” about how recognizing what it means to be human - flaws and all - allows us to develop integrity and deep trust with one another.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In part 1 of a 2-part episode, Ila and Charles talk with Angela Cusack, executive coach and author of ”Discover the Matrix. Integrity: The True Mark of Leadership” about how building our emotional capacity to see our true selves and showing up in life and leadership with integrity, builds trust in ourselves and with others.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Being in a trusting relationship feels good. In fact, it feels amazing. it’s not just that trust connects us to feel-good emotions like generosity, curiosity and joy; the emotions that come with trust move us toward each other. We’re more likely to collaborate creatively, resolve issues, and be accountable to each other. Ila and Charles explore with delight what reciprocal trust feels like and what it does for us as human beings. Spoiler alert: It’s all good!

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Inspired by the book, Humor, Seriously by Naomi Bagdonas and Jennifer Aaker, we discuss how a little levity in our relationships can release tension and pave the way to trust. We loved exploring this topic and had some laughs, as we considered humor (or 'humour' if, like Ila, you speak Canadian) can build trust. We also challenge listeners to live more authentically by bringing lightness and joy to their relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

There is a toxic strain of positivity loose in some workplaces that, if left untreated, can severely weaken trust. In this episode, Ila and Charles look at “toxic positivity” and how this form of dishonesty can damage people’s trust in each other. We also offer some ideas for what you can do to help yourself and the people you work with if you see it infecting your workplace, leaving people without access to their whole, creative selves.  We dig deep in this episode and encourage us to see each other for the real humans we are.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In Part 2 of a conversation with the podcast’s first-ever guest, Charles and Ila talk with Dr. Amanda Blake about how we can learn to pay attention to sensations we feel in our bodies, what they might be telling us, and how to use our new awareness to face life’s challenging situations with confidence and self-trust.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

For the first time on Trust on Purpose, Ila and Charles welcome a guest to share in a discussion about trust. Amanda Blake is an expert in the domains of body awareness and body coaching and author of “Your Body is Your Brain: Leverage Your Somatic Intelligence to Find Purpose, Build Resilience, Deepen Relationships and Lead More Powerfully.” This first part of a 2-part episode dives into what it means to listen to and trust, what our bodies tell us, and why we should pay attention. The trio discusses how having embodied intelligence (I think this is what she called it) is a distinguishing feature of outstanding leaders and how we can become more aware of our body’s signals.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

 Ila and Charles put the spotlight on how we can sometimes miss the mark in building trust by not knowing what really builds or damages it in the eyes of others. We can say and do things we believe are trustworthy when, in fact, they aren’t received that way. Ila and Charles offer a roadmap for paying attention in both small and big moments, so our trust-building efforts have the intended effect.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

The Trust Framework that Charles and Ila use to talk about how to build, maintain, and rebuild trust has within it 4 domains. Like most things in life, these things are sometimes in conflict, or at least competition, with one another. There was so much to talk about the reality of COMPETING DOMAINS that we split it into 2 parts. In this first episode, Charles and Ila discuss what happens when we forgo critical activities in favour of others, how this can damage trust (and put reaching your goals at risk), and how we can slow down to live and work more intentionally.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Those who have a tendency to “people please,” or help, fix, or say yes to every request, do so for a myriad of reasons, mostly very well-intentioned. But jumping into fixing something or over-committing to requests in order to please others can cause hard feelings, overwhelm, and ultimately trust breakdowns. Ila and Charles unpack how behaviours that many of us have, on the surface, seem generous and selfless, can actually have negative effects.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

When we assess that others are held to different standards than us or we have a boss who continually changes their mind, what's the impact? Ila and Charles talk about how inconsistencies in others' behaviour damages trust and how to have conversations that mend, using a framework and "trusted" language. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Do you ever get a niggling feeling that someone isn't trustworthy? What makes you feel that way? In this first episode of 2023, Ila and Charles discuss the fact that, unfortunately, not everyone is to be trusted. They discuss what your body could be telling you and how to balance gut feelings with factual data. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

“Seeking help is an expression of trust.” Upon hearing this quote from Adam Grant, we immediately wanted to unpack it in this week’s episode. No one knows everything; we all need help sometimes. But asking for help is hard for many of us and particularly difficult if trust is lacking in a relationship. This week’s conversation is inspired by Adam Grant’s quote and the use of it by a public speaker in telling her story of deep struggle and vulnerability.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Dealing with anyone who consistently fails to come through on their commitments is difficult. When it’s your leader, it can be downright painful, career-limiting if you choose to address it, or completely overwhelming if you ignore it. Ila and Charles use a listener story to illustrate how to talk to a consistently unreliable leader and come out the other side with a stronger relationship.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Most teams shift from time to time, if not regularly. Each time someone new joins the team, critical conversations need to be had to create understanding and alignment of the team’s shared vision, agreed-upon behaviours, and standards of competence. Inspired by a listener’s real story, Ila and Charles talk about the dynamics that shift when team members change and what you can do to maintain trust and keep your team focused and aligned.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

When a peer is promoted and is now your boss, things change. The situation can become more complicated when one of the other team members applied and didn’t get the promotion. It can feel overwhelming, and many new leaders have no idea where to start. Ila and Charles describe the courageous things a new leader can do to build trust in all this complexity. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Have you joined a team only to realize something was amiss? When a leader joins a new team, we inherit everything that came before us and sometimes that includes distrust. In this episode, inspired by a listener's story, Ila and Charles discuss the indicators of a team that had low trust, even distrust and what, as a new leader, we can do to build trust. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Don’t believe everything you think you know. Your beliefs about what trust is, how it’s built, maintained, damaged, and repaired have been developed over your life so far. Ila and Charles debunk 5 commonly held “myths” that will have you examining some of your beliefs about trust and possibly re-thinking assessments you’ve made in your relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Without meaning to, we all do and say things that might cause others to think we are dishonest, insincere, or even lacking integrity. These things damage trust if we don’t pause to think about how we want to be seen and how to avoid them. Ila and Charles discuss the power of being intentional about building trust in what we say and what we do; above all, by being sincere, honest, and always acting with integrity.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Reliability is essential to our self-identity for many of us. This conversation delves into the sticky situations we find ourselves in when our inability to get something done calls into question our reliability and how it can lead to damaged trust. Ila and Charles share personal stories that illustrate the need for upfront and transparent conversations to manage expectations and strive for ultimate clarity when requests are made.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

How do you assess someone’s trustworthiness? For some people, competence is the first thing that comes to mind. There are things we all say and do that can damage others’ assessment of our trustworthiness in the domain of competence, and it can have a lasting negative impact. Ila and Charles examine what these “enemies of trust” are, specifically in the domain of competence, and things we can do to avoid them.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Whether we mean to or not, we may behave in ways that make people question whether or not we care about them and what they value - a sure way to damage trust. Most of us don’t intend harm or disrespect. In fact, our intentions are often good and pure. Ila and Charles discuss very real examples of the things we do that show we lack care for others, the impact they have, and ways to avoid them.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

The best results are achieved when everyone has a voice and freedom to debate. Ila and Charles discuss how difficult some people find conflict and debate to be and what we can do to build teams that support productive conflict with trust in service to finding the best solutions and results.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles discuss how we hold others to standards and expectations, sometimes unfairly or without ever speaking them out loud, and the assumptions we make about others when they don’t behave as we believe they should.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles discuss the unique differences and complexities in creating high trust in a team setting rather than one-on-one, including the most common missing piece - it might not be what you think.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We make and receive requests every day. Sometimes we are delighted with the result, and other times we are frustrated that things didn't turn out as we had imagined. Ila and Charles delve into two real-life situations about how requests that lack clarity and completeness lead to frustration and damaged trust and what we can do to be more effective as requester and as the person performing the work.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this 21st episode of Trust on Purpose, we reflect on our first 20 episodes, revisit our original purpose for recording this podcast series, and share with one another how we are experiencing trust in our own relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Being in roles that require us to be multiple things to multiple people - like disciplinarian and coach for those in Human Resources - can be challenging. HR folks have to constantly balance the interests of both the company and the employees within it, which aren’t always aligned. In fact, they are often in opposition. Pile on top of that, impressions employees have of HR, built upon negative experiences and assumptions of their motives. Employees’ mistrust of HR poses a real challenge in providing them with support.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Everyone has been part of a recruitment process (or many) in their lives; many of us have been on both sides of the table. How candidates are treated through the process has an impact on both them and the hiring organization. Ila and Charles discuss the importance of and the how-to of building a recruitment process that builds trust from the beginning and serves to assess trustworthiness in candidates.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

This episode delves into how a person's environment - their upbringing, community, family, country - shapes how they view people who are different from themselves, and how the assessments we make of "others'" morality and behavior can cause silos and further divisiveness. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Forgiveness can be hard. Forgiveness of someone else who has hurt us and forgiveness of ourselves for having hurt someone. Even a sincere apology doesn’t magically wipe away the feelings associated with hurt or betrayal. What we do with those feelings, as they inevitably show up long after the actual experience, is where we do have control and choice.

Charles and Ila discuss the multiple barriers to being able to forgive ourselves and others, and the choice we all have in how we choose to live with the memory of broken trust.

Forgiveness by J. Ruth Gendler:

Forgiveness is a strong woman, tender and earthy and direct. Since her children have left home, she has embarked on an extended walking tour, visiting ruins and old monuments, bathing in rivers and hot springs, travelling through the small towns and large pulsing cities, tracing the current of sorrow under the stories she hears. Sometimes the city authorities and officials don't want her within their gates. If the people want her there enough, she always manages to find a way. 

Forgiveness brings gifts wherever she goes. Simple ones, a three-stranded twig with leaves turning yellow, a belt she wove on an inkle loom, a little song that grows inside you and changes everything. She brought me a silver ring from the South with a pale stone, pink with a hint of brown. When I had asthma, she taught me how to breathe.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

When our behaviours cause harm or pain to someone, it calls into question our self-image and damages our own self-trust. Acknowledging and apologizing to someone whose trust we have breached or betrayed can be one of the most difficult things we'll ever do, but if salvaging the relationship (and our self-image) is important, avoiding a sincere conversation isn't an option. Ila and Charles dig deep into personal experiences and offer thoughtful suggestions on how to have sincere, trust re-building conversations with those we have betrayed.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

How we feel about being good or not good at something can define how we see ourselves. Many of us are raised to believe that the only way to get approval and love is to become masterful at something, or sometimes everything. But what happens when we tie our self-worth to that? Ila and Charles share their own experiences and talk about how we all have choice in what we become competent in. "Not being competent in every area you want to be is not a deficit, it's simply a choice." 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Self-trust is at the heart of another episode of Trust on Purpose. This time, Ila and Charles examine how being dishonest with ourselves affects our core vision and purpose, and how critical it is to align our intentions with who we want to be, every day.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Charles and Ila dig into what happens when we avoid, put off, and ultimately fail to meet the commitments we make to ourselves. The impact it has on our self-trust is real and the work to rebuild it takes courage.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, Ila and Charles deconstruct a story shared by a listener who received less than glowing feedback and how he struggled to listen to it.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, Charles and Ila talk about what trusting yourself means, the importance of self-care and compassion, and the power of balancing the interests of others with our own self-interests.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, Charles and Ila dive deep into a scenario brought to them by a listener - where she loves her job, but she hates going to work because of deteriorating trust between her and her manager. They get specific about how to prepare for a conversation about rebuilding trust, with specific recommendations of what to think about, what to say, and how to say it. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, Charles and Ila talk about the assumptions we make when someone doesn't come through for us like we think they should, and how that impacts trust in the relationship. They also recognize the flip side - we're all human; we mess up; we miss deadlines; we don't meet promises we made. Most people don't mess up intentionally - sometimes life gets to be too much - but what stories do we make up when others are...human?

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, Ila and Charles offer a thought-provoking definition of trust that suggests we have both choice and risk in how and who we trust. They discuss the risks and benefits of our trust choices, and how those choices show up in our relationships, at work and at home.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, Charles and Ila address one of the most frequent questions they get: "How do I repair trust after it has been broken?" When someone has broken our trust, it’s natural to build defences to protect ourselves, to pull away, disconnect or withdraw. Carrying broken trust can be heavy. There is almost always a high cost for living with distrust - for you, as well as those around you. There is another path if you choose to take it. You can talk about it with the person who has damaged your trust. Finding a way from distrust back to trust may not be easy - it can be downright difficult - but it is possible and it is a choice. And when you succeed the trust is almost always stronger than before. Charles and Ila suggest the questions to ask yourself in deciding if repairing trust is right for you, and how to approach a re-build, starting with a conversation.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode we address the biggest breakdowns we see in organizations - lack of accountability leading to missed deadlines, unmet expectations, and unfulfilled deliverables. In a world of fast and faster, how we manage our promises requires intention, commitment, and clarity about what we’re asking for and saying yes to. You’ll come away knowing how to be more clear with your requests, more accountable for what you commit to, and how to hold others accountable without micromanaging. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, we discuss how hard both giving and receiving feedback is for most people and why. We visit the old adages of shit sandwiches that teach people to brace for impact when someone utters the words "I'd like to give you some feedback," and the belief that no news is good news... and how that leads to unintended negative consequences. 

We discuss the power of providing feedback from a place of care (one of the foundations of the Trust framework), being intentional about building others up for success and providing timely and specific feedback. You’ll come away with clarity on how to approach and prepare for feedback conversations that build others up rather than tear them down, all the while, building stronger trust in your relationships. 

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Choosing to trust is choosing to make something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions. We're guessing that you've never thought about it from that perspective. 

It's easy to understand why it feels so uncomfortable to be in a distrusting relationship - what you value isn't safe in that person's hands - and why strong trust in the relationship feels so much better. 

In this episode, Charles and Ila unpack a framework of trust (based on Charles' "Thin Book of Trust") that they use repeatedly and successfully with clients; a framework of 4 domains that can be explored when examining your relationships.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

Ila and Charles share their personal relationships with trust in this episode. They open up, sharing personal histories and the impact that trust has had in their lives. Spoiler alert: it's not always pretty. Secrets and broken trust can create lifetimes of distrust. And trusting blindly, without question, can haunt us in ways we'll struggle to recover from. 

The good news is that we can learn real and tangible ways to build, assess, and rebuild trust. The more clearly we see and understand our own relationship with trust, the more choice we have; the more ability we have to create more of what we want in life. It's so powerful!

You'll come away with an invitation to reflect on your own relationship, to see how it’s helping or hindering what you want in your life and the relationships that matter most to you.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.

In this episode, we talk about missing conversations - the ones you know you should have, but don't. We've all avoided conversations or tip-toed around them, never really saying what we want to say, to avoid discomfort or for fear of damaging a relationship. Or have you sent emails to your whole team when you really wanted to send a message to just one person? These avoided conversations can cause far more harm than not having them at all. We dive into how NOT having a conversation damaged the Trust between a leader and her direct report, caused a ripple effect within their entire team, and resulted in frustration, overwhelm and resentment for everyone. You’ll come away with insight on how to avoid ending up in the same mess and tools to have that conversation you're not having.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.