Organisations must respond to economic anxiety by designing cultures where trust and psychological safety make everyday courage possible, writes Christopher O.H. Williams. We need to help employees speak up, challenge ideas, embrace change and contribute confidently as leaders work to rebuild confidence, loyalty and performance across every team and department.
As one of America’s government shutdown was ending, Fortune described the U.S. economy as “a tale of two halves”: one of wealthy consumers with a rosier economic outlook, and another of those feeling increasingly despondent about their economic future. This so-called K-shaped economy captures a stark divergence in fortunes between two groups over time, moving away from each other like the arms of the letter K.
Edelman documented the widening gap in economic optimism between executives and the entry-level and non-management ranks of employees
This warning is neither new nor unprecedented. But if the macroeconomic scale of the statistic makes it feel abstract, Edelman makes it much more concrete. In its 2024 Trust Barometer, the firm documented the widening gap in economic optimism between executives and the entry-level and non-management ranks of employees. On the question of how well-off they expected their families to be in five years, the gap between the two groups was a massive 39 percentage points in 2024: 10 points wider than it had been in 2019.
The 2025 Trust Barometer was more urgent. It suggested that these economic fears had metastasised into grievance, defined as a belief that government and business actually harm employees while serving narrow interests. Of all the values high-performing and innovative cultures thrive on, fear and grievance are not among them.
What matters most about these metrics is what they mean for workforce productivity and, by extension, business performance. Edelman further described the link it found between employees’ economic optimism and business outcomes: “Economic optimists are more engaged at work, have higher productivity, [are] more likely to advocate for and be loyal to their employer, and are more willing to embrace AI in the workplace.”
Building intentionally
In 2026, companies must take heed of these trends and intentionally build more courage into their cultures. The organisations that outperform will be those that deliberately move into high-trust, high-safety territory, because that is the only environment where courage truly scales. Trust earns loyalty, and safety unlocks creativity. They are not, on their own, an antidote to K-shaped curves, but together they can produce a courageous workforce capable of building the kind of social contract on which individual organisations can thrive. At the crux of this is a bright light, that workers have far more trust in their direct managers than they have in senior executives, and this relationship must be an important leverage point.
Trust is personal. It is about you, the other. “Do I believe you’re well-intentioned?” Safety is about what happens to me. “What will actually happen to me if I take a risk?” When both trust and safety are present and high, courage increases, and magic happens. When either is in short supply, fear takes hold, and the organisation suffers. This is why line managers are so critical and why the more positive sentiments they already engender are so crucial. Still, this does not absolve senior executives of the important and urgent role they must play in leading companies in ways that will build courage. They could learn a thing or two from their line managers.
The chart attached shows the key choices open to all who lead, be they executive or manager.
Building courage through trust and safety
| LOW TRUST | HIGH TRUST | |
| HIGH SAFETY | Loud scepticism (honest but fragmented) | Everyday courage (courageous, constructive) |
| People feel free to speak, but don’t believe leaders | People believe leaders act in good faith and feel safe to take risks | |
| Lots of critique, low commitment to shared direction | They surface bad news early, challenge ideas, and admit mistakes | |
| Courage shows up as opposition, not as “I’ll take a risk with you” | Highest levels of ethical courage, learning, and innovation | |
| LOW SAFETY | Survival mode (protective, political) | Polite fear (loyal but silent) |
| People neither trust leaders nor feel safe | People like and respect leaders, but fear the consequences of speaking up | |
| Quiet in the room, politics outside the room | They stay loyal, but self-censor on tough issues and risks | |
| Energy goes into self-protection; courage only appears in last-resort whistleblowing | You get harmony and compliance, not real candor or creativity |
Investment in the future
In 2025, Hilton, one of the fastest-growing international hospitality companies in the world, was ranked #1 World’s Best Workplace by Great Place to Work and #2 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for in Europe 2025.
According to the company, the vast majority of their team members globally say they believe their company is a great place to work (93%) because of its unwavering investment in their long-term growth potential and wellbeing. This defies the macro data, but much more than that, it is part of the company’s intentional strategy. The company is promising and delivering more positive prospects than the macroeconomic data suggests.
Hilton should not be an example in isolation. If there is a single leadership question to focus on, it is this: What will you do to move your organisation, team by team, department by department, into the high-trust, high-safety quadrant where every day courage becomes normal? This work should not be left to line managers alone but must also be borne by executives for whom suspicion is highest.
In a world of K-shaped outcomes and rising grievance, the companies that will stand out are those that treat courage not as a tagline but as a designed expectation – built patiently through trust, protected fiercely through psychological safety, expressed daily in the way people speak up, challenge, create, and contribute, and embraced by all leaders.
Christopher O.H. Williams is Managing Director & Chief Strategy Officer at Custament Partners and author of C.O.U.R.A.G.E
