Central Theme
This article addresses a critical challenge faced by growing organizations: how to maintain authentic leadership, trust, and a healthy workplace culture as a company scales. As operations expand, the personal connection between executives and employees often erodes. The piece compiles insights from 16 industry leaders on how to intentionally prioritize transparency and human connection despite increasing organizational complexity.
Key Strategies for Maintaining Human Leadership
- Embrace Unscripted Communication: Move away from polished PR messaging. Leaders should utilize livestreams, micro-moments (short videos or voice notes), and personal blogs to share real-time thoughts, clarity, and context rather than just charisma.
- Foster Two-Way Dialogue: Create safe spaces for honest feedback through "Ask Me Anything" sessions, open office hours, and town halls where leaders answer hard questions without scripts.
- Ensure Visibility and Presence: Leaders should participate in everyday meetings—not just major announcements. Executive "walkabouts" and in-person sessions help remove the barriers of hierarchy.
- Prioritize Storytelling and Recognition: Shift focus from numbers to people by celebrating individual success stories and connecting daily work to the broader purpose or customer impact.
- Humanize the Executive Persona: Leaders are encouraged to share aspects of their personal lives and outside interests to build relatability.
- Design Systems for Trust: Implement bottom-up culture building where employees have a say in values and utilize data to measure trust levels.
- Adapt for Remote Teams: For distributed workforces, integrate fun interactions (like virtual trivia) and prioritize face-to-face gatherings when digital communication falls short.
Conclusion
Authenticity does not happen by accident in large companies; it must be designed. To scale trust, executives must trade improvisation for clarity, remove intermediaries between themselves and staff, and consistently demonstrate that they value their people over performance metrics. The consensus is that predictability, vulnerability, and direct access are the cornerstones of retaining a human touch during growth.
Mentoring question
What is one specific ‘scripted’ or ‘polished’ communication habit you can replace this week with a more direct, unscripted interaction to build deeper trust with your team?