The Trust Barrier: Why Leaders Struggle to Let Go
Erica Kesse
What separates thriving leaders from those just getting by? A bold, clear, and actionable vision—paired with the ability to trust others to help bring that vision to life.
Your vision isn’t just a statement—it’s the foundation of your organization’s future. It defines the impact you’ll make, the legacy you’ll leave, and the path to your goals. But without trust, even the best vision can fall flat.
Many CEOs and leaders hesitate to delegate, not because they lack vision, but because trust feels risky. Maybe you’ve been let down before. Maybe you believe no one else can handle things quite like you do.
This constant need for control? It’s often a response to past experiences—your mind protecting you from the unknown. That’s where the "From Trauma to Trust" Intensive comes in.
This transformative program helps leaders shift from a "survivor mind" to a "thriving mind." It starts by recognizing how past challenges shape your leadership style. Do any of these sound familiar?
How Trauma Responses Show Up in Leadership
- Fight: The Overworker & Perfectionist
- How It Shows Up: You push through at all costs, refusing to slow down. You take on too much, micromanage, or struggle to trust your team to deliver results.
- Signs: Burnout, exhaustion, headaches, frustration, and a tendency to control every detail.
- Impact: You may see short-term success, but long-term, this leads to stress, resentment, and an unsustainable work environment.
- Shift to Thriving: Learn to delegate, set boundaries, and trust that you don’t have to do everything alone.
2. Flight: The Avoider
- How It Shows Up: You avoid conflict, tough decisions, or high-pressure situations. You may jump from one idea to another, constantly searching for the "next thing" instead of facing challenges head-on.
- Signs: Procrastination, over-researching, perfectionism, or busyness without real progress.
- Impact: Your vision stays stuck in planning mode instead of turning into reality. Fear of failure keeps you from taking action.
- Shift to Thriving: Learn to embrace discomfort, take imperfect action, and develop resilience by facing challenges instead of running from them.
3️⃣ Freeze: The Overthinker & Procrastinator
- How It Shows Up: You feel stuck, overwhelmed by decisions, and unable to move forward. You might analyze every possible outcome, leading to paralysis and inaction.
- Signs: Indecision, second-guessing, procrastination, and self-doubt.
- Impact: You spend so much time thinking about the best move that you miss opportunities or delay critical decisions.
- Shift to Thriving: Build decision-making confidence, break big goals into small steps, and take action even when you don’t have all the answers.
4️⃣ Flop: The Overwhelmed & Disengaged Leader
- How It Shows Up: When things become too much, you shut down. You might feel disconnected, unmotivated, or emotionally drained. Instead of problem-solving, you withdraw.
- Signs: Apathy, exhaustion, avoidance of work, feeling emotionally numb.
- Impact: Your business, team, or vision suffers from lack of direction. You may feel like you’re "just going through the motions" rather than leading with passion.
- Shift to Thriving: Reignite your purpose, reconnect with your vision, and develop strategies to prevent overwhelm before it leads to disengagement.
5️⃣ Fawn: The People-Pleaser
- How It Shows Up: You prioritize making others happy over making necessary decisions. You struggle to say no, avoid setting boundaries, and may take on responsibilities that aren’t yours.
- Signs: Overcommitting, apologizing frequently, agreeing to things out of guilt, and feeling resentful afterward.
- Impact: Your leadership lacks authority because you’re too focused on keeping the peace instead of making bold decisions. This can also lead to burnout and loss of personal power.
- Shift to Thriving: Learn to set firm boundaries, communicate assertively, and lead with confidence—even when it’s uncomfortable.
The Power of Intensive Leadership Growth
The Intensives program helps you break free from automatic stress responses and build healthier coping mechanisms.
For example, if you tend to fight through everything, you might experience burnout, negative self-talk, and emotional exhaustion. Instead of pushing harder, Intensives teaches you to pause, reset, and operate from a place of clarity and balance.
What You Gain from the Intensives Program
By participating, you will:
✅ Gain clarity on your next steps without second-guessing yourself.
✅ Build resilience and confidence as a recognized leader in your industry.
✅ Create harmony between your personal and professional life.
This is your opportunity to step into thriving leadership, where you lead with vision, trust, and confidence.
Effective leadership demands a holistic approach to internal communication, recognizing its multidimensional framework. This system is defined by three distinct flows - Upward, Downward, and Lateral, each serving a specific, vital function that directly impacts productivity and profit. For the CEO, understanding and nurturing the Upward Flow is non-negotiable. Downward: The Direction Flow (Necessary, But Insufficient) Downward communication (from leadership to subordinates) is essential for delegation and distributing information. However, an organization dominated by this top-down approach quickly becomes rigid and unresponsive. True leadership understands that direction must be balanced by receptivity. Upward: The Innovation and Mental Health Flow The Upward Flow is the pulse check of the organization. It's the vital mechanism that allows employees to surface problems, share innovative ideas, and provide crucial feedback. When the CEO and their leadership team actively cultivate and respond to upward communication, two things happen: 1. Innovation: Valuable, ground-level insights are integrated into strategic planning. 2. Mental Health: Employees feel heard, increasing their sense of value and reducing stress, which directly supports their **mental health** and boosts morale. Lateral: The Agility Flow Finally, Lateral communication enables cross-functional collaboration, ensuring departments are aligned on goals. When all three flows are healthy and efficient, the organization operates like a sophisticated nervous system, maximizing its responsiveness and overall vitality. The success of the modern CEO and their leadership team depends on maintaining a strategic balance across all three flows. However, the health and resilience of the entire enterprise hinge on a continuous, valued, and non-negotiable stream of communication flowing up the hierarchy.
The organizational destiny of any modern enterprise is directly tied to the efficiency of its internal communication system. For the modern CEO, building a robust communication framework is not about mandate—it’s about survival in a dynamic market. Formal vs. Informal: The Strategic Balance A key part of the communication blueprint is understanding the interplay between formal and informal channels. Formal communication (reports, official emails) provides structure, clarity, and accountability. However, the social fabric of the organization, the trust and agility required for quick problem-solving is built through informal communication. The CEO must ensure leadership fosters a strategic balance, preventing an over-reliance on rigid, top-down structures that stifle valuable feedback. Lateral Communication and Innovation Organizational agility relies heavily on Lateral/Horizontal Communication—the flow of information between peers and across departments. When silos exist, innovation dies. Effective leadership must facilitate this cross-functional collaboration to ensure knowledge sharing and joint problem-solving. This efficient flow is crucial for driving productivity and ensuring the organization can respond quickly to market shifts. The CEO’s Human-Centric Mandate The path to a thriving workforce begins with an unwavering commitment to communication excellence, which requires specific skills from the CEO and the leadership team. This includes active listening, strategic channel selection, and maintaining radical transparency. This culture, which also supports employee mental health, positions the organization as a responsive, unified entity ready to meet market demands. The CEO acts as the architect of the communication ecosystem. By strategically balancing formality, facilitating lateral flow, and practicing transparent leadership, the organization gains the agility and resilience needed for sustainable growth.
Effective communication is not a soft skill your organization can treat as optional; it is the organizational nervous system that dictates its health, agility, and competitive viability. For every CEO, viewing communication strategically is the single most important leadership tool for driving profitability and corporate culture. A breakdown in communication is a silent profit killer. Data shows that poor information flow leads to measurable financial costs: high employee turnover, lost productivity, and damaged brand reputation. A CEO committed to communication excellence essentially adopts a powerful risk management strategy, ensuring that instructions, expectations, and goals are clearly understood, preventing costly confusion and frustration. Upward Communication: Empowering Leadership While delegation is necessary, true leadership thrives on the information that flows upward. Upward communication from a direct report to the executive team is vital. It allows employees to share innovative ideas, surface problems before they escalate, and, crucially, feel a valuable sense of being heard. A CEO who fosters this flow cultivates innovation and avoids being blindsided by internal issues. Fostering a Resilient Workforce There is a direct correlation between clear communication and employee well-being. When leadership ensures clarity and accountability, and when employees feel their input is valued, stress and confusion are reduced. This sense of psychological safety directly supports employee mental health and cultivates a resilient workforce. Ultimately, the tone for this thriving, communicative culture must be set by the CEO. Strategic communication is a prerequisite for organizational success. The commitment of the CEO to this framework is what turns an average company into an agile, profitable enterprise.