What College Athletics Taught Me About Building High-Trust Teams

Long before I ever sat in boardrooms or executive strategy meetings, I learned leadership the same place many coaches do: on the field.

College athletics is one of the purest classrooms for understanding trust. Athletes don’t perform because you demand it—they perform because they believe in you, your message, and the mission you’ve created together.

As I moved through leadership roles in universities and later into executive roles in business, the lesson stayed the same:
Trust is built long before results appear.

In athletics, trust comes from honesty during tough conversations, consistency in your expectations, and the ability to show up the same way on your best and worst days. In business, it’s no different.

High-trust teams ask harder questions, innovate faster, and hold each other accountable. You can feel the difference the moment you walk into the room.

The greatest teams I’ve led weren’t the ones with the most resources—they were the ones who trusted each other the most.