In Trust

What are some common stories about entrepreneurship and innovation that actually hinder these pioneering pursuits? Why is trust so integral in the development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation?

We explored these questions and many more with Alex Waters, the Director of CONNECT ALL @ The Jacobs Center in San Diego, California. Alex works with low to moderate income and diverse founders helping them to build and scale businesses with honesty as the cornerstone of their ventures and leadership. He specializes in connecting startup founders with the resources needed to ensure their business ideas, confidence, and investments lead to results. Alex is also a coach in Seth Godin’s altMBA and Akimbo’s The Bootstrapper’s Workshop, as well as being a Diverse Community of Young Leaders Support Advocate with CodeBreakers.

In our conversation, Alex debunks a number of widespread myths about entrepreneurship and innovation and gets to the core of how trust fuels these trailblazing pursuits. He also gets into practical ways leaders, family, and friends can support innovators and entrepreneurs to achieve their goals, especially when they’re navigating their toughest challenges.

If you’re an innovator or entrepreneur or someone looking to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, you’ll definitely want to give this episode of the In Trust podcast a listen!

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

What is the relationship between vulnerability, play, and trust? What happens to team dynamics and performance when play is embraced as part of work instead of a bonus or afterthought?

It’s been a while since we’ve recorded a host conversation, so it’s just us - Spotlight Trust Co-CEOs Rick Kitagawa and Lisa Lambert - playing around this week. In this episode, we share insights into how norms are shifting when it comes to how people show up at work and what it means to be vulnerable and authentic as leaders. We also get into some of the ways we ourselves leverage vulnerability, levity, and play in our approach to working with clients on leadership development, team building, and organizational design.

If you’re interested in having more fun at work and getting more done while doing so, then you’ll want to give this episode a listen.

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

What’s the relationship between inclusion, engagement, innovation, and trust? How can increasing Indigenous engagement in the economy create better opportunities and prosperity for all?

We had the pleasure of exploring questions like these and many more with Kelly Lendsay, President and CEO of Indigenous Works. Kelly is an entrepreneur who is internationally recognized as one of Canada’s foremost innovators and organizational development experts in workplace inclusion systems, models, and corporate/indigenous partnerships. Kelly is a proud Canadian Indigenous leader of Cree and Métis ancestry, who moves seamlessly between both worlds fostering economic inclusion, well-being and prosperity in Canada and abroad.

Kelly shared stories and wisdom from his extensive experience in workplace inclusion, effective bridge-building, and cultivating trusted partnerships for workforce and economic development across Canada, USA, Australia, and abroad.

You won’t want to miss this episode if you’re interested in a systems thinking lens to inclusion strategies and practical ways to earn trust, build social capital, and cultivate effective partnerships with Indigenous communities and beyond.

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

How can stories support actionable change in the nonprofit sector? Why is the relationship between a nonprofit executive director and their board chair so crucial to long-term success and stability and what are practical ways to strengthen this relationship?

These are questions at the heart of the work of Michele Reiner, a nonprofit professional with 25 years of experience in the industry and the founder of Storied Awareness. Through Storied Awareness, Michele creates spaces for nonprofit leaders to be seen, heard, and understood so they can more effectively serve their constituents and communities.

We had the pleasure of recently connecting with Michele to talk about some of the challenges facing nonprofit leaders today and practical ways they can overcome these through the power of trust, connection, and understanding. Michele also shared four leadership postures crucial to the long-term success and stability of a nonprofit which she derived based on insights from over 40 former nonprofit executive directors.

If you work in the nonprofit sector, you’ll want to give this conversation with Michele a listen! And if you know someone who works in the nonprofit sector, this is a great episode to share with them.

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Show notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

What’s the connection between leadership, trust, and magic? What happens when we, as leaders, create more space for magic?

Who better to discuss these questions with than the Architect of Magic himself, Mark Stuart? So that’s just what we did!

Mark is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Mark Stuart Dance Theatre. Mark’s award-winning choreography and performances have been featured on Broadway, in films, commercials, and in print. He served as the Associate Choreographer of BANDSTAND on Broadway (recognized with the TONY Award for Best Choreography) and he created, directed, and choreographed the award nominated Off-Broadway dance-musical STANDARD TIME: When Change Comes. Mark is a coach for Seth Godin’s altMBA and is a four-time Director of the World Musical Concert series at Tokyo’s world famous Theatre Orb.

We enjoyed a magical conversation with Mark where we talked about how trust is like the game of Jenga, how hard discussions are vulnerable discussions and how these build a resilient community, the one question that has helped Mark trust in himself and that gave him the freedom to think differently, and much more.

If you’re interested in leading in a way that creates opportunities where what previously was thought impossible becomes possible, then you’ll want to listen to this interview with Mark Stuart!

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Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

What’s the difference between being transparent and being intentionally transparent? How can you go about cultivating a culture of intentional transparency with all your stakeholders when transparency is extremely uncomfortable (at first)? Why is this effort worthwhile when it comes to building trust and resilience while reducing red tape and boosting innovation and creativity?

Your hosts Lisa Lambert and Rick Kitagawa dove into these questions and more with Gabriel Maldonado (who might be familiar if you watched or listened to the two-part series on Understanding and Addressing Medical Mistrust).

Gabriel is the Founder and CEO of TruEvolution, a community-based organization out of Riverside, California that fights for health equity and racial justice to advance the quality of life and human dignity of LGBTQ+ people. As a former member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Obama, Gabriel works to elevate the representation of minority community-based organizations in state and federal policy priorities.

If being transparent has ever made you feel even the tiniest bit uncomfortable or you’re interested in practical ways to build a culture of transparency and trust beyond your organization into your network of stakeholders, then you’ll want to give this conversation with Gabriel a listen!

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Show notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

How do you move beyond the idea of belonging to take meaningful action that builds and repairs cultures and communities in a way that actually roots them in belonging? How do we build a future for young people that fits them versus asking them to fit the future?

These questions merely scratch the surface of a conversation hosts Lisa Lambert and Rick Kitagawa recently had with their friend and colleague Rebecca Channer. Rebecca is the Founder and Team Lead at CodeBreakers, a vibrant online space for young people (ages 13-23) who have been historically underrepresented and/or racially minoritized within their communities, schools and workplaces.

If you’ve ever struggled to feel belonging or are interested in building a culture of belonging anchored in actions versus ideas, then you won’t want to miss this episode of the In Trust podcast.

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

How do you build a meaningful brand that’s relevant and resonates with your customers when you’re swimming in an ocean of content? How can you leverage storytelling and community to build the trust needed to design the future with your team and your customers?

Hosts Lisa Lambert and Rick Kitagawa get the answers to these questions and more in this conversation with Paul Jun, an award-winning hybrid writer, strategist, photographer, author and community builder based in Brooklyn, NY. 

Paul works with mission-driven leaders and brands that believe in storytelling and design to build community, and he generously shared with us his behind-the-scenes perspective on how he thinks about brand building in addition to practical insights on harnessing the power of storytelling and community to build the trust needed to navigate transformation and make new things possible.

If you’re interested in building a brand and creating relationships with those you seek to serve that stand the test of time, then you won’t want to miss this episode of the In Trust podcast.

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

How might your life be different if you made different choices? If you were given an opportunity to change and the support to do so? If you were given a second chance?

Hosts Lisa Lambert and Rick Kitagawa explore the answers to these questions and more in this conversation with John Jackson, Director of Correctional Partnerships and curriculum designer at Hustle 2.0, and organization that provides highly effective educational programming that equips incarcerated people with the tools to transform their lives, find healing, and reduce recidivism to 8% of its graduates.

We had the pleasure of connecting with John to learn more about the role trust played in his transformational story, about the remarkable work he does to maximize the potential of people who are incarcerated, and practical lessons we can all apply to our own lives so that we can take the baby steps that lead to big change.

If you’ve ever looked back on your life and wished you’d made a different choice or if you’ve ever felt hesitant or fearful about making a potentially life-changing choice, this episode is for you.

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com

 What is it like to make a documentary about a stigmatized subject? How do you trust in yourself when a project stretches on for years? 

Hosts Lisa Lambert and Rick Kitagawa explore the answers to these questions and more in this conversation with Alex Liu and Leo Neri, co-founders of Herra Productions, and the director/co-writer and co-writer/producer for the documentary feature A Sexplanation.

In our conversation, we discuss the power of listening and teamwork, the nature of shame, how they stayed focused over six years, storytelling and humor, and how to have conversations with people you don't agree with. 

Show Notes:

Sponsored by: Spotlight Trust

From the co-founders of Spotlight Trust comes the new book The Future Is Trust: Embracing the Era of Trust-Centered Leadership. The book will be released in Spring 2021. For more info, sneak peeks, pre-order specials, and more, visit: thefutureistrust.com