How to Build Leadership Trust Across the Enterprise with Marcel Schwantes from The Marcel Podcast

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How to Build Leadership Trust Across the Enterprise with Marcel Schwantes

19 minutes Posted Aug 14, 2026 at 1:59 pm.

noon Eastern. Register here: https://www.frombosstoleader.co/trusted-leader-workshop

– Welcome & why trust is the foundation of effective leadership

– Blunt truth: If your people don’t trust you, nothing else will stick

– Compliance vs. commitment: why “doing what they’re told” isn’t real trust

– Do your people feel safe telling you the truth and making honest mistakes?

– Disrupting the belief that “trust must be earned”: why leaders go first

– How mistrust acts as a hidden tax on speed, innovation, and collaboration

– Making trust operational: how it changes ownership, decision-making, and purpose

– Pillar 1: Credibility – telling the truth about reality, not pretending to know it all

– Why small, broken commitments (not big betrayals) quietly erode trust

– Humility as a credibility builder: “I got that wrong” as a strength

– A weekly question: What commitment have I made that someone is still waiting for me to keep?

– Pillar 2: Empathy – assuming positive intent and leading with curiosity, not suspicion

– Shifting from judgment to curiosity: “Help me understand what happened from your point of view”

– Listening beneath the words: pressures, needs, and the human impact of decisions

– Story: A VP takes responsibility for lack of support and transforms the room

– Pillar 3: Consistency – being “predictably human” so people feel safe around you

– How mood‑driven leadership makes teams manage your emotions instead of their work

– Values under pressure: respect, honesty, and accountability when things get hard

– How patterns of kept promises and honest conversations compound into culture

– The 3‑part self‑check for any 1:1, team meeting, or tough conversation

– Question 1: What would credibility require from me here?

– Question 2: What would empathy require from me here?

– Question 3: What would consistency require from me here?

– You don’t need a new personality—just a repeatable practice around trust

– Invitation: Live Leadership Trust Workshop – August 26, 12:00 p.m. Eastern

– What you’ll get: deeper dive into the three pillars + 30‑day action plan

– Closing: When better humans lead, teams, organizations, and communities flourish

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Show notes

Join Marcel for a live Leadership Trust Workshop on August 26 at

Episode recap:

Many leaders believe trust must be earned. But if you’re the leader, waiting for your people to go first may be exactly what’s weakening your culture.

In this solo episode, Marcel Schwantes explains why trust begins when leaders take the first step. Drawing from his book, Humane Leadership, and the research, he explores three foundations of leadership trust—credibility, empathy, and consistency—and shares practical ways to strengthen each one.

Bio:

Marcel Schwantes is a leadership coach, speaker, author, and advocate for more humane workplaces. Marcel’s work includes:

Leadership coaching

Leadership development courses

Keynote speaking and workshops

Executive roundtables and culture strategy sessions

Marcel is the author of Humane Leadership: Lead with Radical Love, Be a Kick-Ass Boss. Whether coaching a CEO or training a leadership team, Marcel’s #1 goal is the same: To help leaders become the kind of people others want to follow

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About the Show:

The Marcel Podcast (formerly the Love in Action podcast) ranks in the top 2% of all podcasts globally and is distributed in 160 countries. The show features deep conversations with the world's top leadership experts, authors, scientists, and thought leaders about what it means to flourish as leaders and human beings. Episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, be sure to follow us and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

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