The Courage to Fire: Why Trust in Leadership Starts with the CEO a conversation with Sam Willing
Description
In this bold and timely episode of A WiLD Conversation, Dr. Rob McKenna is joined by executive coach and HR leader Sam Willing to talk about one of the most courageous (and controversial) leadership moves: firing the wrong executive—even when they deliver results.
Drawing from nearly three decades in HR and her own journey through grief and self-discovery, Sam shares how emotional regulation, executive accountability, and trust-building are inseparable in healthy organizational cultures. Together, Rob and Sam unpack what it really means to lead with composure under pressure, how to measure trust in your teams, and why the cost of protecting a toxic leader is too high to ignore.
This episode will challenge, inspire, and call leaders—especially CEOs—to take a hard look at whether their values are actually lived out… or just talked about.
🧭 Leadership Takeaways:
Trust is measurable—and it starts with you. Every leader development activity is also a trust-building initiative.
Composure under pressure is not a personality trait, it’s a skill leaders must develop for the sake of their people. Toxic executives damage cultures quietly and deeply. Protecting them out of fear is leadership avoidance, not strategy.
Teams will stay loyal to each other, not the org. When trust is lacking at the top, subcultures form—and leaders miss the truth. CEOs carry the weight of trust.
Courageous decisions like holding executives accountable are where real values show up.
Resources Mentioned:
WiLD Trust Platform
Dr. Rob McKenna’s Composed: The Heart and Science of Leading Under Pressure
- The WiLD Trust Index
- https://www.wildleaders.org/wild-trust-index
- The State of Trust at Work Report
- https://info.wildleaders.org/state-of-trust-report-registration-0
United States
