Learning from Resilient Leaders—The Role of Trust

Building trust helps resilient leaders to focus their attention on recovery by reviewing relevant information, rapidly determining priorities, and making smart choices with confidence and conviction. Recovery efforts require a shift in mindset from crisis management to program management and from backup plans to scenario planning, reinvention, and adaptation to new realities. Trusted leaders spark mindful learning in others as an essential part of overcoming crises. Trusted leadership begins and ends as an important leadership responsibility. When a top executive employs self-regulation and shows genuine concern for diversity or makes a personal sacrifice for others—a true form of trusted leadership emerges. Organizational leaders that pursue ethical mindfulness move from a leader-centric to leadership-centric approach focusing on excellence, ethics, role modeling, and endurance. Trusted leaders in the COVID-19 response have been caring, calm, empathetic, honest, and transparent in their communications and behavior with the media, public, and the employees they lead.