Welcome to The Concrete Leader Weekly — a weekly leadership and personal growth newsletter where I share inspiring stories, practical insights, and motivational lessons to help you start your week with purpose and clarity.

Issue #147

Deposit Before You Withdraw: The Power of the Trust Bank

Early in my career at Hartford Concrete Products, I was a Quality Engineer with a mind built for processes, tolerances, and cold, hard data. Like most technical professionals, I was fiercely task-oriented. I measured success by solved problems, closed non-conformances, and efficient systems.

Then my boss, JD Collins, handed me an assignment that completely threw me off balance.

He told me I was required to spend one full hour every single day walking the floor and talking to the 16 or 17 department supervisors and managers across the company.

There was only one rule: I couldn't talk about business.

For a task-oriented engineer, taking a full hour out of an already packed day to engage in "small talk" felt like a colossal waste of time. But I was also compliant. So, begrudgingly, I put the assignment on my daily schedule and stuck to it.

The Turning Point: Filling the Bank

Every day, I forced myself to step out of the quality office and onto the production floor. I’d catch one, two, or three supervisors a day. I started asking questions—and then I just listened.

I asked about the classic cars sitting in their garages.

I learned who spent their weekends hunting or fishing.

We talked about handguns, restoration projects, motor scooters, and family life.

Slowly, something unexpected began to happen. The awkwardness faded, and real connection took its place. I wasn't just checking off a task anymore; I was genuinely getting to know the people behind the operations. Without realizing it, I was building a bank of trust.

The Test: A Process Defect

A few months later, the true value of JD’s lesson was put to the test.

Historically, when one of my quality inspectors flagged a defect on the floor, it triggered an immediate turf war. The fabrication supervisor would defend his team, I would defend the inspection report, and friction was guaranteed.

Then a major process-related defect popped up in the fabrication department.

Under the old dynamic, this would have been an argument. But this time, I walked over to the supervisor—a man whose passion for restoring classic cars I now understood—and explained what my inspector had found. I framed it not as a fault of his team, but as a flaw in the process that we needed to solve together.

Instead of putting up walls, he listened. He looked at the issue from my perspective, agreed with the finding, and partnered with me to fix the root cause. No tiffs, no defensiveness—just collaborative problem-solving that made the whole plant better.

Industry Validation: Management by Walking Around

Recently, I was discussing this exact concept with my friend and industry colleague, Greg Roache.

Greg shared how vital it is for him as a leader to regularly walk through the plant at Gainey’s Concrete Products. He emphasized that practicing "Management by Walking Around" (MBWA) and consistently interacting with his team gives him direct credibility and builds trust across the shop floor. Over the years, he has seen immense, measurable value brought to his company simply by making time to connect with people where they are.

Hearing Greg reflect on his experience at Gainey’s was an encouraging reminder: whether you are managing a department or leading an entire company, getting out among your team isn't an extra task—it is a core foundation of effective leadership.

The Core Leadership Takeaway

That early lesson reshaped my entire understanding of leadership: People won't go along with you until they can get along with you.

When you lead with tasks before relationships, every critique feels like an attack. But when you intentionally invest time to know your people—their families, their interests, their likes, and their dislikes—you create relational capital.

Apply, Change, Teach (ACT)

1. Apply (For Yourself)

Look at your calendar for the coming week. Are you allocating time strictly for tasks, or are you carving out intentional, non-transactional time for your team?

Challenge: Take a page from "Management by Walking Around." Pick 3 team members this week, walk to their area, and spend 10–15 minutes learning about their life outside of work. No business allowed.

2. Change (For Your Mindset)

Shift your perception of walking the floor or engaging in "small talk." It isn't a distraction from the work; it is the work. Recognize that building trust upstream prevents friction downstream when tough quality, schedule, or process conversations inevitably arise.

3. Teach (For Your Team)

When coaching young or technical leaders who struggle with influence, share this principle: If you want people to follow you, you have to get to know them first. Teach them how to make relationship deposits before they need to make business requests.

A Question for The Concrete Leader Readers

How are you currently building relational capital with the people you lead, and what is one "deposit" you can make on the shop floor or in the office this week?