Why Trust and Ego Can’t Coexist

In high-growth organisations, pressure can either forge stronger teams or fracture them. And the difference often comes down to one thing: trust. Not just in vision or strategy, but in each other. At the same time, ego, when left unchecked, can quietly erode the very cohesion that growth depends on.

Today’s best leaders aren’t the loudest or the most dominant. They’re the ones who build safety, show restraint, and create space for others to step in. This is the essence of high-trust, low-ego leadership culture. And it’s more than just a “nice to have.” It’s the engine behind innovation, resilience, and sustainable scale.

Coined by Harvard’s Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is the shared belief that it’s safe to take interpersonal risks in a team, whether that means admitting a mistake, asking for help, or challenging a process.

In low-safety environments, teams stay quiet. Innovation stalls. And leaders make decisions in an echo chamber.

In contrast, high-safety cultures surface better ideas, faster learnings, and fewer blind spots. In fact, a Google study of high-performing teams found that psychological safety was the number one predictor of success, even above skill or experience.

“A team that trusts each other can do the impossible. A team that fears judgement will play it safe.”
– Matt Bennett, Executive Coach & President of West Peak -US

Leadership ego isn’t always loud. It can show up subtly, in defensiveness, in the need to be the smartest in the room, in the unwillingness to share credit. And while it may look like strength on the surface, ego is often a mask for insecurity.

Unchecked, ego blocks feedback, hoards decision-making, and signals that vulnerability is weakness. That’s a fast route to dysfunction, disengagement, and eventually, turnover.

The leaders who scale well aren’t afraid to say “I don’t know.” They don’t chase being right, they seek to get it right.

You don’t need a cultural overhaul to build a high-trust environment. You need consistent leadership behaviours that reinforce safety and shared ownership.

Here’s where to start:

• Signal vulnerability first. Admit what you’re learning or where you need help. You go first, others follow.
• Respond with curiosity, not control. When things go wrong, ask “What can we learn?” not “Who’s to blame?”
• Create permission for dissent. Invite challenges, especially from junior voices. Innovation lives in disagreement.
• Recognise contribution over visibility. Trust cultures reward outcomes, not optics.

Fun Fact: According to McKinsey, employees in high-trust cultures are 76% more engaged and 50% more productive than in low-trust ones.

Low-ego doesn’t mean low ambition. It means high self-awareness.

These are leaders who know their impact, listen more than they speak, and make space for others to lead. Their focus is on results over recognition, team success over personal status.

A great example? Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. When he took over in 2014, he didn’t come in with a grandiose turnaround speech. He came in asking questions, listening deeply, and empowering teams. That shift, from a know-it-all to a learn-it-all culture has been central to Microsoft’s resurgence.

Culture isn’t what you say, it’s what you tolerate, reward, and repeat.

To make trust and safety stick, consider:

• Embedding it into leadership development. Train managers on coaching, feedback, and facilitation, not just strategy.
• Measuring what matters. Add psychological safety to your engagement metrics. What you measure, you improve.
• Making feedback normal. Normalise micro-feedback in meetings, retros, and 1:1s.
• De-risking failure. Celebrate calculated risk-taking, even when it doesn’t go to plan.

At West Peak, we help leaders build this from the inside out, because you can’t scale what you don’t model.

If you want performance at scale, start by creating a space where truth travels fast, decisions are shared, and people bring their full selves to the table. That doesn’t happen with ego. It happens with trust.

High-trust, low-ego leadership isn’t soft. It’s strategic. It’s what creates resilient cultures, agile teams, and leaders who don’t just drive results, they multiply them.

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