April 26, 2026 by Mike Manazir – (4-5 minutes)
Trust can remove fear in an instant.
What makes trust essential to your leadership?
It was spring of 1994.
I stood up inside the Fokker F100 at 14,500 feet circling over the Raeford drop zone at Fort
Bragg preparing for my first free-fall jump with the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team.
I had more than 2,000 hours flying F-14 Tomcats and had made countless night landings on aircraft carriers.
I thought I was fearless.
I was wrong.
Two Delta Force instructors tucked up tightly on either side of me. When the operator on my left reached down and pulled opened the cargo door, a roar of air filled the cabin and the green checkerboard of North Carolina countryside appeared far below.
My knees buckled.
Literally. Buckled.
I backed away from the door, shoving against the operator to my right, “Nope. Not doing that.
No, no, no.”
I had never been more terrified in my life. Paralyzed with fear.
The guy on the right didn’t move. He looked straight into my frightened eyes and calmly said:
“Sir, this airplane is going to land and we won’t be on it. We’re either going to throw you
out—or you can take us out. Your call.”
Something happened in that moment.
My fear disappeared.
A deep calm settled over me.
Why?
Because in an instant, I realized I could trust these guys.
I had just met them, but their confidence made it obvious they knew exactly what they were doing. I trusted their competence and I trusted them. Even if I fainted on the way down, I knew they would save my life.
That trust replaced my fear with courage.
I stepped to the door.
“OK… one, two, three… off!”
And out we went.
It was incredible.
I became so fascinated watching the airplane disappear above us and feeling the exhilaration of free fall that I forgot to pull my own ripcord! One of the Delta operators had to pull it for me as he tracked away.
My parachute snapped open and the roar of the wind suddenly disappeared. I floated peacefully down toward the North Carolina countryside.
I missed the landing zone by about a mile and landed in a muddy cornfield.
The instructors drove over to get me in a jeep, worried they had injured the Navy guy.
I jumped up covered in mud and yelled:
“Can we do that again?”
That experience happened because of one thing.
Trust.
Without trust, my fear would have kept me frozen on the cabin floor.
Trust is essential to leadership.
If your team does not trust you, they will hesitate in moments that require courage.
If they do trust you, they will follow you into the unknown.
Trust is built on three essential elements. I call them the Three Cs of Trust:
Character – People must trust you to do the right thing. Character isn’t about what you say you believe—it’s about what you consistently do. Leaders demonstrate character when they act with honesty, integrity, and respect, even when it costs them something.
Competence – People must trust you to know the right thing to do. An incompetent leader can cause as much damage as a dishonest one. Leaders earn trust by demonstrating the skill, judgment, and experience necessary to guide the team through uncertainty.
Consistency – People must trust you to do the right thing every time. Think about a car that fails to start one out of twenty times. You wouldn’t trust it. Leadership works the same way.
Reliability builds trust. When leaders consistently demonstrate character and competence, teams feel secure following them.
When trust exists within a team:
• Communication becomes more open and honest.
• People focus on their work instead of second-guessing leadership.
• Engagement and morale increase.
• Teams take healthy risks and innovate.
• Talented people stay longer.
Trust creates psychological safety.
And it works both ways.
Great leaders trust their teams as much as their teams trust them.
Here’s the bottom line: Trust is the force that turns fear into courage.
When leaders demonstrate character, competence, and consistency, they earn the confidence of their teams.
And when people trust their leader, something powerful happens.
They step forward.
They take risks.
They follow into the unknown.
Sometimes—even out of perfectly good airplanes.
Want more powerful leadership lessons from Mike?
- Begin leading from the heart: Order Learn How to Lead to Win | The Manazir Maxims | Leadership Study Guide for Manazir Maxims
- Book Mike to Speak or for 1:1 Executive Coaching
P.S. Know someone trying to build up their people and lead with heart? Forward this to them. It might be the encouragement they need to keep going.
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Let’s lead to win together,
Mike Manazir
Retired Navy Rear Admiral | Bestselling Author | Keynote Speaker | Executive Coach