Are you trusting the right voices?

As leaders, we’re told to listen. To seek input, surround ourselves with smart people, and consider their perspectives.

But what happens when you do all that — and still don’t know who (or what) to trust?

In today’s complex organizations, it’s rarely a lack of information that stalls decisions.

It’s the noise that comes when everyone is trying to be heard.

The higher you go in the org chart, the harder it becomes to discern whose insight deserves weight — and when your own instincts might be the wisest in the room.

When “listening widely” becomes a liability

Take Lindsay, a managing director I worked with who reports to her company’s CEO. Lindsay’s boss, Mitchell, prided himself on being accessible.

His door was always open; his calendar filled with conversations.

The problem? Mitchell often made decisions based on who spoke to him last.

When someone came in with a strong point of view — or a reassuring explanation — he took it at face value. Even when early data suggested a different story, he tended to accept the most recent narrative as truth.

For Lindsay, this pattern created constant whiplash.

Priorities shifted overnight depending on who had Mitchell’s ear, leaving her to manage the downstream confusion — realigning the team, reworking plans, and cleaning up decisions made without full context.

Lindsay tried several subtle approaches to address the issue with Mitchell, but it would take weeks for him to see the full picture.

By the time things became clear, frustration had set in, and trust across the leadership team had eroded.

Seeing his team in turmoil, Mitchell learned the hard truth: he didn’t have a listening problem. He had a discernment problem.

Because great leaders don’t just listen widely — they listen wisely.

They learn to distinguish between perspective and persuasion.

They weigh patterns, not just passion.

And make room for trusted voices that might be quieter or use less jargon — but often see farther ahead.

Cutting through the noise

In another recent engagement, I was working with Kevin and Erik, two senior leaders at a global organization preparing for a major product transition.

They were inundated with opinions: from internal teams, global distribution partners, and financial stakeholders.

Everyone had a different take on what customers needed and how the go-to-market strategy should shift.

After weeks of competing perspectives, they hit pause and decided to go straight to the source: the customer.

I facilitated a live discussion where leadership could hear directly from clients about what they valued most and where they felt underserved.

The result? The conversation shifted — from “who’s right” to “what’s needed.”

By centering the customer’s voice, Kevin and Erik regained clarity. The noise fell away. Their teams rallied around shared priorities, grounded not in assumptions but in evidence.

When advice competes, it’s often best to let the customer be the tiebreaker.

So, how do you decide who to trust?

Trust in leadership isn’t about blind faith — it’s about disciplined curiosity.

It’s knowing when to gather more input, when to challenge it, and when to follow your gut.

Here are five principles I often share with my clients:

1. Map the stakeholders—and understand motivations.

Before taking anyone’s advice, clarify what’s driving their perspective. Are they accountable for the outcome? Close to the work? Protecting their turf?

Understanding motive doesn’t disqualify input — it helps you calibrate it.

2. Include people who don’t agree with you.

Trusted dissenters keep you honest. They surface blind spots, test assumptions, and expand your thinking.

If everyone’s nodding, you’re not learning.

3. Ask for evidence, not just enthusiasm.

When someone makes a strong recommendation, try asking:

“What are you seeing that I’m not?”
“What data backs this up?”

It separates conviction from assumption — and strengthens the quality of debate.

4. Watch your own decision patterns.

Leaders fall prey to recency bias and comfort bias just like anyone else. Notice when you’re swayed by whoever spoke last or by the option that feels easiest.

If it feels too comfortable, pause — leadership decisions rarely are.

5. Test advice before scaling it.

Try a pilot. Run a short-term experiment. Gather real feedback before making it organizational policy.

Small tests reveal truths that opinions can’t.

Trust as a practice

Working with Lindsay, I helped her present a framework to Mitchell to create more structure around how decisions were made.

Mitchell, recognizing he needed a new approach, began asking for multiple perspectives before acting — not just the most recent one — and Lindsay learned to summarize issues with data and clear options up front.

Over time, that rhythm rebuilt trust and gave the team confidence that decisions would hold.

Deciding who to trust — and when to trust your gut — isn’t a single skill. It’s an ongoing practice of discernment.

The best leaders cultivate both humility and confidence: humility to listen deeply, and confidence to know when the answer’s already inside them.

So, the next time advice starts to blur together, ask yourself:

• Whose voice am I weighting most—and why?

• What would it look like to test my instincts, not just defend them?

Listening widely builds connection. Listening wisely builds credibility.

And when you balance both? You build trust that lasts.