Mini-Case: Gaining Trust as a New Leader

Henri, a young leader from France, had had great success in building an outstanding network of distribution partners throughout Europe. Impressed with his success, the CEO of the company asked him to move from Europe to the head office in the United States to lead the entire international network.  

While a caring person at heart, Henri was also a deeply private person. His management style, while effective in Europe, was foreign to his colleagues from America and from other parts of the world. For example, in a meeting with the Latin American region, he made the following sincere statement: “I don’t want to be your friend; I want to be your partner.” This message resonated well with his European colleagues, but his new Latin American counterparts were more accustomed to a “Friends first, business second” way of doing things, and they interpreted his message as, “I don’t want to be your friend.”  

Similarly, back at headquarters, his colleagues were accustomed to building trust and shared meaning through open conversations about family, life decisions, and other private matters. Since Henri kept personal matters to himself, some mistrusted his intentions, felt that he was “all business,” and that he didn’t have their best intentions at heart.  

Henri worried that if he couldn’t get people to trust him, he would struggle to lead them where they needed to go.

• Based on the principles we have learned so far about learning and growing personally, and about building others, what would you do if you were in Henri’s shoes? 

• What doctrine or principles, if understood, would help you gain the trust and commitment of your colleagues?

Please note: You will be discussing this mini-case in your groups.