Creating and Maintaining Trust: How and Why Some Leaders Get It Right

When asked to testify before Congress as to the lessons, if any, Americans could derive from the Iran-Contra fiasco that nearly felled the Reagan administration, then-Secretary of State George Schultz famously asserted that, when it comes to credible and effective leadership, “Trust is the coin of the realm.” In some respects, Schultz’s words are even more poignant and applicable to today’s world, where levels of trust in both government and business leaders have dipped to dismally low levels over the past decade (Center for Public Leadership, 2010; Nye, Zelikow, and King, 1997).