Trust Isn't Given Anymore. It's Proven.

This week on Culture Secrets, Chellie Phillips takes a step away from guest interviews for a personal reflection inspired by two very different experiences: a panel of journalists-turned-authors at LitFest and a headline-making news story that sparked a national conversation about trust.

Drawing on her own background as a newspaper reporter, Chellie shares a memorable (and slightly humorous) story about covering a fast-food restaurant opening that taught her an important lesson about perception, competing interests, and how trust is built.

In a world where social media, transparency, and constant visibility have changed the way we view leaders and institutions, one thing has become clear:

Trust isn't automatically granted anymore. It's earned through consistency, accountability, and the signals we send every day.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why trust has changed over the past few decades
• The difference between intent and perception
• What journalism, leadership, and workplace culture have in common
• How organizations build—or break—credibility
• Why trust is less about titles and more about experiences

Whether you're leading a team, building a culture, serving customers, or simply trying to strengthen relationships, this episode will challenge you to think differently about what it takes to earn trust today.

Because trust isn't given anymore.

It's proven.

Connect with Chellie:
Website: www.chelliephillips.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chelliephillips
Culture Secrets Podcast: Available wherever you listen to podcasts

Thanks for listening. Grab the book the original podcast is based on at https://mybook.to/culturesecrets . Want more quick leadership tips? Sign up for my FREE bi-weekly newsletter: Coffee, Culture and Common Sense.  

Check out my website www.chelliephillips.com for more great content. Follow me on LinkedIn.  

Transcript

Hello everyone, and welcome to Culture Secrets. I'm your host, Chellie Phillips.

Today is going to be a little different.

No guest.

No interview.

Just me sharing a few thoughts that have been rolling around in my head this week.

Recently, I attended LitFest here in Newnan and had the opportunity to listen to a panel of journalists who have become authors. As someone who started my career in journalism before moving into communications, leadership, and culture work, I absolutely loved it.

There was something nostalgic about hearing them talk about chasing stories, meeting deadlines, interviewing sources, and trying to get the facts right while the clock was ticking.

It reminded me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place.

Then, a few days later, I started seeing headlines about turmoil inside one of the country's most recognizable television news organizations.

Now, this episode isn't about that specific situation.

I wasn't in the newsroom.

I wasn't in the meetings.

I don't know the people involved.

And honestly, that's not what interested me.

What interested me was the public reaction.

Almost immediately, people started debating trust.

Who should be trusted?

Who shouldn't?

Can the media be trusted?

Can corporations be trusted?

Can leaders be trusted?

And it got me thinking about something much bigger than journalism.

It got me thinking about trust itself.

Because trust is something every leader, every organization, every business, and every team is wrestling with right now.

And I think we're living through a fundamental shift.

For generations, trust was often inherited.

People trusted institutions because they were institutions.

They trusted leaders because they held leadership positions.

They trusted the newspaper because it was the newspaper.

They trusted the evening news because it was the evening news.

Today?

Not so much.

People want proof.

They want transparency.

They want consistency.

They want to see whether your actions match your words.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized something else.

The tensions people are talking about today aren't actually new.

They're just more visible.

I remember one story from my newspaper days that still makes me laugh.

A new fast-food restaurant was opening in town, and I was assigned to cover the grand opening.

Wanting to provide some context, I interviewed a few of the existing restaurant owners in town and asked what they thought about the new competition.

To their credit, they were incredibly gracious.

They welcomed the new business.

They talked about how more choices were good for consumers.

They said they didn't expect it to hurt their business and believed it would be good for the community.

So I included those comments in the article.

The editor approved it.

The story ran.

And then the phone rang.

The new restaurant owner was furious.

Absolutely furious.

Not because anything was inaccurate.

Not because the story was negative.

But because other restaurants had been mentioned in the article.

Before long, the publisher was upset.

I got chewed out.

And eventually I found myself apologizing to a restaurant owner over a story that had already gone through the normal editorial process.

Looking back, it's actually kind of funny.

In fact, more than thirty years later, I still refuse to eat at that restaurant chain.

Now, that's probably a character flaw I need to work on.

People who know me would probably agree.

But here's the lesson that stuck with me.

Not that anyone involved was necessarily a bad person.

Not that there was some grand conspiracy.

The lesson was that organizations have always had competing interests.

Journalists.

Editors.

Publishers.

Advertisers.

Business owners.

Community leaders.

Everyone views a situation through a different lens.

Those tensions didn't suddenly appear this year.

They've always existed.

What's changed is that today we get to watch them happen in real time.

The curtain has been pulled back.

Social media gives us front-row seats to conversations that once happened behind closed doors.

Employees post online.

Internal emails get leaked.

Meetings become public.

Leadership decisions are debated instantly.

The public can see more than ever before.

And that visibility has changed how trust is built.

As someone who now spends much of her time helping organizations build culture, I find that fascinating.

Because the same thing is happening inside companies.

Employees don't automatically trust leaders because of a title.

Customers don't automatically trust companies because they've been around for fifty years.

People don't automatically trust organizations because they have a recognizable logo.

Trust has become something that must be earned repeatedly.

And honestly?

I don't think that's entirely a bad thing.

In my work, I often talk about the signals we send.

Every action sends a signal.

Every decision sends a signal.

Every response sends a signal.

When leaders communicate openly, they send a signal.

When they avoid difficult conversations, they send a signal.

When organizations own mistakes, they send a signal.

When they try to hide mistakes, they send a signal.

Whether we realize it or not, people are constantly evaluating whether our actions align with our words.

That's how trust gets built.

Or broken.

Maybe that's why this topic has been on my mind so much lately.

The journalist panel reminded me of where I started.

The recent headlines reminded me of how much the world has changed.

But what struck me most is that the core issue hasn't really changed at all.

Whether you're a journalist, a CEO, a supervisor, a small business owner, or the leader of a volunteer organization, the question is still the same.

Will people trust you?

Not because of your title.

Not because of your history.

Not because of your reputation.

But because of what they consistently experience from you.

Perhaps the biggest shift of all is this:

Trust is no longer granted because of who you are.

It's proven through what you do.

Over and over again.

And maybe that's exactly how it should be.

Because trust earned through consistency is far stronger than trust inherited through assumption.

So here's my question for you.

What makes you trust a leader today?

What makes you trust an organization?

What signals tell you that someone is credible?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with me today.

Until next time, remember that culture isn't built by accident.

It's built by intention.

And every signal you send matters.

Thanks for listening.