Minda has shaped conversations on workplace equity, self-advocacy, and leadership as the author of The Memo, Right Within, and You Are More Than Magic. Her impact spans boardrooms and conference stages, with companies like Nike, Google, Best Buy, and JPMorgan Chase calling on her to redefine leadership and workplace culture. LinkedIn has recognized her as the #1 Top Voice in the Workplace and by Business Insider as one of the top 100 People Transforming Business.
In addition to her work as a speaker and consultant, Minda is an assistant professor at NYU and the founder of The Memo LLC, where she is shaping the next generation of leaders. Minda’s new book, Talk to Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages for a Better Workplace, revolutionizes how leaders and teams harness trust as their most valuable asset.
The modern workplace is in flux. Amid widespread restructurings, shifts in employee engagement, and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, a critical undercurrent runs through it all: a breakdown in trust. But according to bestselling author and workplace equity strategist Minda Harts, this perceived erosion of trust is also an opportunity one to reframe trust not as a soft skill, but as one of the most essential drivers of organizational performance and culture.
In a recent talk, Minda shares a compelling framework for understanding, articulating, and rebuilding trust inside modern organizations. Drawing on years of research, lived experience, and corporate advisory work, she offered a road map for leaders who want to turn trust into a measurable asset, not just a moral imperative.
Below are five key takeaways from the session:
To illustrate how trust functions inside an organization, Harts offered an arresting metaphor: imagine walking onto a chaotic construction site with no gear, no safety briefing, no direction. Would you trust your environment enough to take a single step?
“That would be absurd, right?” she said. “But that’s exactly how many of us feel at work.”
Psychological safety is no longer optional. Harts reinforces this, emphasizing that trust doesn’t emerge from corporate values statements—it comes from clear structures, consistent behaviors, and a shared sense of safety. When employees feel emotionally and intellectually secure, they are more engaged, more loyal, and less likely to burn out.
Through her consulting work, Harts repeatedly encountered the same dynamic: people who claimed they didn’t trust their managers, peers, or HR departments—but struggled to pinpoint exactly why. When she dug deeper, it became clear the problem wasn’t betrayal. It was unmet expectations.
One person needed more consistent feedback. Another wanted clarity around decision-making. Someone else simply wanted to feel seen.
“It’s not always a trust issue,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s a communication crisis.”
This distinction is crucial. When leaders misdiagnose a trust breakdown as a loyalty problem, or worse, an attitude problem, they miss the opportunity to solve it at its root. By learning to name our needs and ask for them without defensiveness, we create space for repair and realignment.
Borrowing from the popular “love languages” concept, Harts developed what she calls the Seven Trust Languages, each reflecting a different way people experience and interpret trust at work:
Each of us has a dominant trust language. Most workplace conflict, she argues, arises not from malice but from a mismatch—when what we need isn’t what we receive. This framework gives both leaders and teams the vocabulary to name those mismatches and close the gaps with intention.
The concept aligns with recent conversations in executive coaching around “trust audits” and leadership self-awareness, as explored in Fast Company’s coverage of emotional intelligence in the C-suite.
In one of the more personal moments of the session, Harts recounted an incident early in her career when a well-meaning manager made a racially insensitive joke about her nail polish in a meeting. “I had trust with him at 10 a.m.,” she recalled. “By 10 p.m., it was gone.”
The experience shaped her belief that trust cannot be restored with a single apology or conversation. It is rebuilt through consistent, emotionally intelligent action.
This emphasis on sensitivity isn’t about political correctness—it’s about psychological precision. Leaders must develop the awareness to understand how their words land, the humility to own missteps, and the emotional stamina to repair harm when it occurs.
As Harts put it: “Trust is rebuilt at the speed of consistency.”
For leaders looking to deepen this skill, The New York Times’ feature on the rise of Chief Empathy Officers illustrates just how central emotional intelligence has become to future-proof leadership.
To close, Harts offered a metaphor from her childhood. On family road trips, her parents – relaxed in the front seat – would reflect on what a smooth ride they’d had. Meanwhile, young Minda, squeezed into the backseat with her siblings, had an entirely different experience.
“We were in the same car, but not the same ride,” she said.
This dynamic mirrors many workplace realities, especially for women, caregivers, and professionals of color. Leaders may believe the culture is thriving—but others are quietly absorbing the friction.
Trust, then, is not only a relational virtue; it is a tool for equity. It requires leaders to regularly ask: What does trust look like for you? What do you need from me to feel safe, seen, and supported?
Harts’ call to action was unequivocal: learn your trust language and those of your teams. Bake them into the way you lead, communicate, give feedback, and hire. In a time when employee retention, belonging, and engagement are under pressure, trust is no longer intangible. It is trackable, teachable, and transformational.
“If trust can be broken,” she reminded us, “it can also be rebuilt. But only if we are willing to communicate with honesty, dignity, and respect.”
