Although there are many tricks and buzz words thrown around to help people become great leaders, the single most important attribute is trust. A recent article on the Psychology Today website, Why Trust is Foundational to Sound Management, provided the evidence to support my claim. It also provides evidence that although trust is incorporated into many (if not all) companies’ mission statements, it is not showing up in practice. A recent
Gallup workforce survey asserted approximately 70 percent of employees are disengaged. For those who do not think this is an important statistic, Gallup points out that work units in the top 25 percent of engagement have significantly higher productivity, profitability, and customer ratings while suffering lower turnover and absenteeism.
Achieving trust with your team is one of many things easier said than done. When things are going well for your group or company, it is much easier to act trustworthy. Last year I wrote about how someone reacts to difficult times is the true measure of that person
and the same principle applies to leadership, your team will judge you by how trustworthy you are in trying situations. Continue reading “Trust as the foundation of leadership”
One important issue to keep in mind with leadership is that it is not management. They are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. Both are necessary for success in the game industry (and woefully lacking at many companies). In the article, Kotter points out that many companies are overly managed and underled. The real challenge is to combine strong leadership and strong management (not necessarily with the same person or people) and use each to balance each other. 
The Business of Social Games and Casino 