Most leaders will readily agree that earning and keeping the trust of others is critical to their effectiveness as a leader. It is quite possibly the single most important prerequisite for leaders at all organization levels. Unfortunately, it can also be the most fragile. Recent events in the economy have spilled over into all business sectors and have shaken the confidence in organization leadership to the core.
To the leader, trust is not simply one more element on a long list of desired characteristics. It is more like the foundation that will support all your leadership efforts. If people do not trust you, everything else you do as a leader becomes inconsequential. Read on…
In times of crisis, leadership skills are shaped, honed and built in a way that no leadership development program can replicate. Brutal as it is, character is carved and leaders emerge in times of adversity. Step back for a moment and reflect on where we are and how we got there through a leadership lens. Leadership, or rather the lack of it during the good times, is in large part what created these bad times. Conversely, it is what we as leaders do during the course of these bad times that will create the good times again. 
