Most leadership breakdowns don’t start with bad intentions. They don’t come from laziness, ego, or even incompetence.

They start with something much more human - fear.

❗Fear of saying the wrong thing.

❗Fear of letting go.

❗Fear that if you stop holding it all together, everything will fall apart.

❗The quiet (and loud) fear of failure.

If you've ever worked for a leader who couldn’t let go of control, hovered over decisions, micromanaged tasks, or went silent when tough feedback was needed, you've seen it.

And if you’re being honest, maybe you’ve been that leader. (every perfectionist reading this can raise their hand... myself included.)

It’s exhausting. And more often than not, it stems from fear.

When leaders operate from fear, trust is the first casualty. It shows up as:

• Micromanagement

• Indecision

• Mixed signals

• Silence where clarity is needed most

But here’s the truth: when we name the fear, we take away its power.

That’s when trust starts to take root. Not through perfection, but through honesty, vulnerability, and clarity.

In every leadership team I’ve worked with, trust is the starting point. Not performance metrics. Not policies. Not feedback scripts.

Because without trust, accountability doesn’t hold and fear keeps leading.

But when trust is the foundation, everything else becomes possible:

• Feedback becomes more natural

• Teams feel safer

• Expectations are clearer

• And leaders stop carrying the weight alone

It’s about recognizing fear and choosing a different response.