Author makes case for trust at leadership summit

“The first job of a leader is to inspire trust through who they are,” Covey said. “The second job is to extend trust.”

When a leader trusts his or her employees, it inspires them to improve their performance and output.

Trust also improves collaboration and helps attract and retain quality people to an organization, Covey said.

For young people, who were a key focus at the leadership summit, it is important for leaders to extend trust, especially if they have earned that trust, Covey said.

“People respond to being trusted,” he said. “They rise to the occasion.”

David Courtemanche, chair of the leadership summit's steering committee, said more than 200 delegates attended the summit, which was in its second year.

“When you think about the issues we face as a society, not just today, but in the past and in the future, I believe that leadership is the silver bullet,” Courtemanche said.

He said many of Sudbury's success stories, including the Nothern Ontario School of Medicine, the Laurentian University School of Architecture and the re-greening effort happened because of strong leadership.

The first day of the summit featured an afternoon session with 25 young leaders. Some were high school or university students, while others were young professionals. All have proven to be leaders with their respective organizations, Courtemanche said.

“I think sometimes we call them future leaders,” he said. “They're not, they're leaders right now.”

The summit, which continued Friday, also featured a keynote address by Jennifer Deal, a senior research scientist with the Center for Creative Leadership, in San Diego.

Steve Paikin, Laurentian's chancellor and host of The Agenda, on TVO, moderated a panel discussion about leadership Friday morning.