Leaders want high-trust teams, but their daily actions might be actively destroying them. Most leaders believe they’re building trust and leading the right way, but their teams quietly experience the opposite. Are you experiencing an intention-action gap in creating the workplace culture you want?
In this episode of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with lawyer-turned-leadership expert Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham, who breaks down one of the most overlooked problems in modern leadership: the intention–action gap, where leaders genuinely want to create inclusive, high-trust workplaces, but their actions fail to match those intentions. Drawing from her background in law, Valerie explains why relying on rules, compliance, or legal frameworks alone can actually damage workplace culture. She shares how leaders unknowingly break trust, why fast-paced environments amplify bias, and how companies often solve the wrong problems entirely. You’ll also learn about her company’s 8 Leadership Principles, why empathy and courage are often misunderstood, and how “hidden strengths” can reshape how leaders grow. If you’re a manager, entrepreneur, or team leader trying to build trust and engagement in your organization, this episode gives you a practical, science-backed framework to close the gap between intention and impact.
Learn more about Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriezolezziwyndham
https://promotinggoodllc.com/
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