The New Trust Equation with Daniel Roth, President and Founder, PangeaEffect

To build a culture that performs, start by building one that trusts.

In this episode of Straight to Voicemail, host Rachel Downey connects with Daniel Roth, President and Founder of PangeaEffect, to see what it takes to foster trust in high-performing teams. 

Daniel brings wisdom from years of leading teams through high-stakes moments and shares why trust isn’t just a value, it’s a practice. The key is clarity, consistency, and connection at every level of the organization.

In this conversation, you’ll hear about:

• How trust is built through clarity and accountability
• Why psychological safety is the cornerstone of performance
• How frontline voices accelerate buy-in and change
• The real role of AI in human-centered leadership

Jump into the conversation:
 (00:00) Meet Daniel Roth
 (01:19) The power of clarity and consistency in building trust
 (02:14) Purpose, buy-in, and standards that drive performance
 (03:09) Navigating AI while staying human-first
 (04:01) Daniel’s guiding principle for leadership and team culture

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At Share Your Genius, we have the same questions, so we're tapping the best in the space for their answers—one voicemail at a time.

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Rachel Downey (00:00):
Rachel Downey, what does it really look like to build trust inside a high performing culture, especially when the stakes are high and the pressure is on? That's the question on my mind. So I called Daniel Roth because he's lived the complexity of building trust, not just in theory, but like actually he's led high performing operational teams in everything from in-home healthcare to tech. He's built trust across functions, onshore, offshore, during high stakes turnarounds and brand new launches. He has seen what makes trust stick, what breaks it down, and what actually moves people when it matters most. He's the founder of Penia Effect and the author of the three E Effect, how to Build World-Class Teams by Enabling, empowering and Endeavoring. And if you're curious, you can find out [e-mail] or connect with him on LinkedIn. So with that, what does it actually look like to build trust in a high performing culture? Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. At the tone, please record your message.

Daniel Roth (01:19):
I wanted to leave you a voicemail. I wasn't able to get ahold of you and share just some ideas about how to build trust in a high performing culture. And one of the things that I would recommend is to lead with clarity. Trust is clarity in action. Say what you're going to do. Do what you said, then say what you did, communicate often, and then follow it through with consistency. Another thing is, when you do that, you'll be able to also show up and be vulnerable. Being vulnerable allows a team to feel like they can approach you. So you want to create psychological safety through vulnerability. Teams won't follow you into uncertainty unless they feel seen and safe. You also want to empower with purpose, not just process. Trust grows when people know the why behind the what. Whether you're launching new tech tools, you are changing a process.

(02:14):
You always want to involve frontline voices. Early buy-in creates trust faster than mandates ever could. You also want to earn it at every level from the boardroom to the break room. Trust is in a title, it's earned in every interaction, every level, every day. And when you do this, you set standards and then you stand by them. Trust comes from high standards and higher accountability. Trust is the foundation of scalability. You can't scale what you can't trust. One of hot topics today is around AI and technology and how it's going to impact individuals within the workplace, and then do they trust the company? And what they're saying about how they'll utilize that technology, ai, and one way to continue to build trust in that realm is to use technology to strengthen your trust within the team, not replace it. AI can score a call, it can help, but only people can build connections.

(03:09):
And it's through connections that you find a balance of high tech, high touch, and then that's what modern trust looks like. Rachel, I hope this was helpful. I want to make sure that I gave you some information here that you could use. And at the heart of every high performing culture, it isn't a budget, it's trust. It's the leader who listens, the teammate who follows through, and the shared belief that we're in this together. Just to give you an example, I end every meeting with this phrase, which is, take care of each other, take care of our customers, and everything else will come together. Rachel, thank you so much for this opportunity. If you have any questions, please reach out to me. Text message works best typically, but you can also give me a call or shoot me an email. Have a great day.

Rachel Downey (04:01):
Thanks for listening. Want your podcast to do more? Subscribe to Genius Cuts because it's never just a podcast. You can find [e-mail].