Trust is easy to talk about but it is much harder to define and even harder to decide what actually earns it.

In this throwback episode of the PM Debate Podcast, we revisited a deceptively simple motion:

Competence is more important than loyalty when it comes to trusting team members.

On the surface, it sounds academic but in practice, it’s deeply personal and operationally dangerous to get wrong.

On one side of the debate:

* Competence creates predictability.

* Predictability creates trust.

* If someone can’t deliver, no amount of good intent saves the team downstream.

On the other:

* Competence can be taught.

* Loyalty can’t.

* A disloyal team member doesn’t just fail, they choose to break trust.

The discussion quickly moved beyond theory into the real questions leaders face:

* Would you rather manage underperformance or disloyalty?

* Is loyalty to the organization different from loyalty to a leader?

* Is trust built through results… or relationships?

* Is it fair to expect both?

What makes this episode endure isn’t the answer, it’s the tension. Every hiring decision, every promotion, and every team reset forces leaders to weigh these two forces, often with incomplete information.

🎧 Listen to the episode and join the debate.

Thanks for reading Project Management Matters! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Get full access to Project Management Matters at philipdiab.substack.com/subscribe