Trust is the foundation of leadership, but most leaders underestimate how intentional it must be.

In a special episode of my Insights podcast, I recorded the introduction to my new book, Leading With Trust.

The episode begins with a simple moment: an unexpected leadership decision, a choice to trust, and the impact that trust had on performance, confidence, and results. It’s a reminder that trust isn’t theoretical; it’s lived, earned, and reinforced through everyday behavior.

Trust enables people to step up.

Trust allows teams to collaborate under pressure.

Trust is what carries organizations through both success and crisis.

This episode sets the foundation for the book and introduces the thinking behind The 12 Elements of Trust, the behaviors that drive peak performance and lasting leadership impact.

If the episode resonates, the book takes you deeper, providing the structure, questions, and tools to build a culture of trust intentionally, not accidentally.

Leadership starts with trust.

What you build on top of it is up to you.

Read Emil’s book Leading With Trust:

⁠Amazon⁠

⁠Barnes & Noble⁠

Everyone loves talking about “culture.” Most leaders don’t actually build one.

Tonight’s national championship isn’t being decided by hype speeches or talent alone. It’s being decided by standards, the kind most organizations say they have but don’t enforce.

In this week’s Insights episode, I break down what Curt Cignetti’s leadership teaches us about winning:

• Why motivation is overrated

• How performance earns opportunity (not potential)

• The danger of hiring résumé instead of fit

• How belief is built with proof, not posters

• Why calm leaders outperform loud ones

Five minutes. One story. Five takeaways.

If your culture collapses under pressure, don’t blame your people. Blame your standards.

Listen before the game. Then ask yourself, would your team win tonight?

Read Emil’s book Leading With Trust:

⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠

⁠⁠Barnes & Noble⁠⁠

Visit Us at: ⁠ThinkNewAmsterdam.

He’s been behind some of the biggest power shifts in modern sports, yet most people have never heard his name.

Free agency, athlete compensation, equal pay, and structural reform didn’t result from clever words at the table. They came from leverage built long before negotiations even began. Nearly 70% of his most important cases never went to trial; they settled because the system itself was under pressure.

In the latest episode of Insights, I break down how he approaches negotiation, how he builds leverage before the conversation, shapes the narrative to shift power, anchors decisions in objective standards, and negotiates for systems rather than just one-time wins.

If you lead, influence decisions, or negotiate at any level, this episode will change how you prepare for your next conversation.