Trusted advisor or trusted leader?
I’ve been in Singapore this week, working with a fantastic group of senior lawyers on leadership. As always, the content was tailored, the specific context unique, but a familiar theme emerged.
These are smart people who’ve built long, impressive careers as trusted advisors. They’re sharp. Technically excellent. The ones you want on the most complex matters. They’ve earned their reputation through rigour, responsiveness, and good judgment.
But as a partner in a law firm you’re no longer just relied on for advice. You’re expected to lead.
And that requires a different kind of trust.
David Maister’s Trust Equation - credibility + reliability + intimacy, divided by self-orientation - is often used to describe how professionals build strong external client relationships. But it applies just as powerfully inside an organisation.
When you’re known for being credible, sharp and reliable, it can feel risky, almost indulgent or even that worst of all crimes, “a bit woo woo”, to lean into the other elements. To allow warmth. To take the time to build relational closeness. And perhaps hardest of all, to stop demonstrating your own value, and focus instead on enabling others to succeed.
The shift from trusted advisor to trusted leader isn’t just semantic. It asks something different of you. Something less about solving, more about shaping. Less about being the one with the answer, more about creating the conditions for good answers to emerge.
It’s not that your expertise stops mattering. It’s that your impact now relies more on how you show up than on what you know.
And that often starts with a very different question:
What does this team - or this organisation - need from me now?
Until next week, take care of yourself and others
Madeleine
I help accomplished professionals untangle difficult career questions so they can thrive in work and life.
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