The Hidden Architecture of Trust: My Conversation with Jen Randle

2025-10-29

What would you do if your organization became the center of a national crisis? In this episode, strategist and cultural architect Jen Randle takes us inside a five-week sprint to design a company-wide intervention for Starbucks’ 175,000 employees—and how it changed her understanding of leadership, trust, and repair forever. Jen shares what it means to build trust at the micro (self), meso (teams), and macro (systems) levels—and why most leaders wait until a full-blown crisis to start thinking about it. She expla...

What would you do if your organization became the center of a national crisis? In this episode, strategist and cultural architect Jen Randle takes us inside a five-week sprint to design a company-wide intervention for Starbucks’ 175,000 employees—and how it changed her understanding of leadership, trust, and repair forever.

Jen shares what it means to build trust at the micro (self), meso (teams), and macro (systems) levels—and why most leaders wait until a full-blown crisis to start thinking about it. She explains why trust isn’t a “soft skill” but a business multiplier, how storytelling with integrity builds psychological safety, and why true repair starts with aligning your head, heart, and gut.

Whether you’re leading through disruption, guiding a team after layoffs, or simply trying to rebuild confidence in your culture, this conversation is a masterclass in becoming the signal in the noise.

In this episode:

The inside story of Starbucks’ 2018 trust-repair initiative
Why trust isn’t performative
How leaders can embody their company’s stated values
The power of storytelling with integrity
Jen’s framework for trust mapping and “intrinsic wayfinding”

Helpful Links:

A Story of Access Stanley Nelson film for Starbucks
Jen Randle - SGNL Advisory; and connect with her on Instagram, Substack
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert addresses player criticism, CBA, officiating, job security, The Athletic

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