High-Trust Leadership requires authenticity. It is more about who you are than what you say or the role you play.

Late November I received a holiday card from a good friend. He sends them before every holiday. Actually, he doesn’t send them, a holiday-card email service sends them to everyone on his mailing list.

A well-known book for successful leaders entitled What Got You Here Won’t Get You There describes how success can contribute to a leader’s resistance to change and account for counter-productive behaviors. One is our tendency to exaggerate our contribution to the team’s success and minimize our role in setbacks and failures.

Many cultures and religions have strong traditions of extending hospitality, even to strangers. Often because it originated as a matter of survival. During early days, helping others was necessary for survival of the species. Along the way, extending hospitality was woven into most people’s hormonal reward system by nature and nurture. Extending hospitality that is gratefully received causes the release of dopamine and a feeling of pleasure.

What is the biggest impediment to walking our talk, to living our values? If you peel the onion, you often find it is us.

High-Trust Leaders are uncommon. One of the reasons they are uncommon is they are willing to do work that others shy away from: the mundane, the routine, the uncomfortable, the frustrating, the re-do to get it right, the unappreciated, the boring. We often refer to these tasks as “have-to” tasks.

Gratitude is a powerful emotion with many benefits, including better health, improved relationships, and a sense of humility that allows for greater empathy. In contrast, it becomes obvious when you think of someone you know who is ungrateful and carries a large sense of entitlement.

Stay on the high road of walking your talk with routine reminders of your values, promises, and responsibilities.

When I was a newly winged naval aviator, flying A-7E Corsair II jets off the USS Constellation, one of my first squadron commanding officers was a High-Trust Leader, Commander L.J. Vernon, who lived the 5C’s every day.

Balance is a misnomer. It implies that one can apportion time and attention nearly equally to various roles and responsibilities. A fool’s errand fraught with frustration and guilt, and frankly not desirable. Rather than seeking balance, better to seek COHERENCE.