Every founder wants a strong team, but strength isn’t just about skills or output. It’s about trust. And trust starts with team health.
You can feel it when things are off. People hesitate to speak up. Small problems get ignored. Meetings feel polite but avoidant. Over time, the whole team gets weaker — not because of one person but because no one is addressing what’s really happening day-to-day.
Prioritizing team health means creating space for hard conversations. It means helping your weakest link grow stronger instead of pretending the issue isn’t there. High-trust teams don’t wait for things to break. They invest in each other early and often.
How are you making it safer for your team to speak up, raise the bar, and build real trust?
PERSPECTIVES
“Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they're doing it because they care about the team.” — Patrick Lencioni
“As long as people are clear on what they need to do and what's going on, you're very likely to succeed. When nobody is clear, then you're guaranteed to fail.” — Ben Horowitz
MARK MY WORDS
My son rowed in high school, and there was one race in particular they should have won. The team was strong, the conditions were right, but they didn’t have their usual coxswain. He’d been benched for bad behavior earlier that week. Without him, the boat lacked rhythm and direction, and as a result, they placed poorly.
At first, I was frustrated. One person’s choices had cost the whole team a shot at victory. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the rest of the crew had seen this coming. They knew his attitude was off, but no one said a word.
That’s the real lesson. On strong teams, accountability doesn’t just flow from the top. It lives in the culture. His teammates should have stepped in before it impacted the boat. Not to shame him, but to help him.
Business works the same way. Every team has a weakest link. The question is whether your people hide from it or work to strengthen it.
High-trust teams don’t avoid the hard conversations. They row into them.
TUNE IN
OS Anarchy: Why Alignment Breaks as You Scale
When every team uses different tools and systems, misalignment creeps in quickly. This episode breaks down how tool sprawl happens, why it creates chaos, and what founders can do about it.
You’ll learn:
Why tool sprawl becomes a silent bottleneck
How siloed systems lead to cultural and operational drift
What it means to build a Unifying Operating System
In case you missed it, here’s more from Founder’s Framework:
Now More Than Ever: Building Purpose-Driven Companies
Purpose-driven companies don’t just survive change — they shape it. In this article, I unpack why clarity, trust, and antifragility are the new baseline for leaders who want to build companies that last.
Some of my best thinking happens in the in-between moments — walking, waiting, catching my breath between meetings. That’s why we built the Ninety mobile app.
It’s one more way to lead your team, grow your business, and stay aligned, even when you’re on the move.
Track To-Dos, Issues, and Rocks from anywhere.
Stay in sync with Headlines and team updates.
Prep for meetings without being tied to a desk.
If your company’s already on Ninety, you have access to the app now. It’s included in every paid plan.
.png?upscale=true&width=1048&upscale=true&name=vfvf%20(1).png)
