This article, “We Must Do Better,” is really a book review in disguise.

Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code was a powerful read that highlights what you can get when you give a little. It outlines what can happen when you send the right signals to other members of your team, setting aside dated and flawed ideas of what it means to be a leader in the military. Vulnerability is not a weakness, it is a strength. Dissent, challenge and disagreement need not equate to disfunction, disloyalty, or insubordination. Quite the contrary, it can be a signal that there is trust.

Trust is one of the most important components of any team. Words do not build it, but words can erode it. Actions can work both ways, another reason why our actions, our behaviours, matter so significantly.