Awareness
From blind spots to clarity
Explore the values, beliefs and assumptions shaping your leadership. Understand who you are and recognise what you may not be aware of when it comes to your impact.
THE BOOK BY ALINE J. BADR
TRUSTED.
How Aligned Leaders Earn Reputations That Last
Close the gap between who you are, how you lead and how others experience you, and earn the trust that moves your business, and leadership, forward.
COMING OCTOBER 28, 2026 Published by
WHY TRUSTED.
Most leadership challenges are trust problems in disguise.
Leaders want their teams to take ownership, work better together and deliver results. Others want the next role and wonder why they aren’t gaining traction. Trust enters the conversation when we begin to explore what is getting in the way.
68 percent of people believe business leaders deliberately mislead them, according to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer. Only 48 percent of employees trust their senior leaders, according to a 2024 Gartner survey.
Behind these numbers is a gap many well-intentioned leaders fail to see: between who they are, how they lead and how others experience them. Left unexamined, it erodes trust and undermines their results.
TRUSTED brings together leadership stories, research and practical exercises to help leaders recognise that gap and close it. Whether you lead a business, a team or a project, the work begins with you.
PRAISE FOR TRUSTED.
“Trusted will change the way you think about trust as a leader. Aline J. Badr challenges convention with a simple but powerful idea: lasting trust is the result of alignment. It's a timely, thought-provoking book that reframes how trust is earned—and why it lasts. This book belongs on the desk of every leader.”
“Trust isn’t about keeping a promise to others so much as keeping a promise to your future self. This book will give you a foundation to be deeply trusted.”
“Trusted is a vital contribution to leadership. Aline J. Badr lays out a map and practical exercises for leaders to gain trust with self-awareness and courage to act with integrity. The results from building relationships worthy of trust will increase exponentially.”
“Even experienced leaders can struggle to see how others truly experience them. Reading Trusted feels like working with a wise executive coach who helps you spot your blind spots and lead in a way people believe in.”
“Trusted gives leaders a practical framework for seeing themselves clearly and understanding the effect they have on the people around them. I’ve watched Aline J. Badr successfully use this framework with hundreds of executives at IESE.”
“Aline J. Badr writes with the authority of someone who has done this work in real boardrooms, not just theorized about it. As a voice speaking from and to the Arab region, she brings a perspective our leadership conversations urgently need. Trusted offers a path back to yourself, and from there, to the people you lead. I recommend it to every leader I coach.”
THE TRUSTED REPUTATIONS LEADERSHIP MODEL
Who you are.
How you lead.
How others
experience you.
Three connected areas of development help you turn alignment into trust, and trust into a reputation people believe in.
Behavior
From doubt to confidence
Understand the reactions and habits that take over under pressure. Align your behaviour with what matters to you and what the people you lead need from you.
Visibility
From optics to credibility
Examine the difference between the image you project and the reputation you earn. Make your leadership visible through actions people can consistently trust.
INSIDE TRUSTED.
The questions that change how you lead.
The book invites you to examine familiar situations more honestly, then put what you discover into practice.
Whose values are you living by?
Some values are inherited. Others are consciously chosen. Explore whether the decisions you make, the boundaries you set and the commitments you keep reflect what actually matters to you.
“That’s not what I meant.”
When someone tells you how your behaviour affected them, explaining your intentions can move attention away from their experience. Learn to separate intent from impact and take responsibility for the gap.
What do you hear when you listen?
The need to answer, advise or defend can stop you from understanding the problem in front of you. Examine what becomes possible when you listen with a willingness to be wrong.
What do you want to be known for?
Brand promises. Reputation proves. Consider whether the image you project matches what people experience, and how the choices you make earn credibility over time.
The leader this moment needs you to be
The approach that worked yesterday may be holding you back today. Recognise when to adapt your leadership so others have room to think, contribute and take ownership.
THE SPACE BETWEEN US
What is it like to be
on the other side of you?
Every interaction shapes what people feel able to say, question or admit in your presence. The inner work of leadership becomes meaningful in that shared space, where trust builds or breaks and people move forward together.
Trust is earned one aligned action at a time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aline J. Badr
Global Executive Coach & Reputation Advisor · PCC
Aline helps leaders understand how the gap between who they are, how they lead and how others experience them, affects trust and business results. Her work draws on over 25 years in brand, reputation and global executive coaching.
She works with leaders at organizations including ING, Siemens, WSP and Novo Nordisk. She lectures at IESE Business School, UTCC and Harbour.Space University, and has spoken at events for the International Labour Organization, PCMA, EO and Columbia University.
Aline has lived in five countries, speaks four languages and is based in Barcelona. TRUSTED brings her experience into a practical path for leaders willing to examine how they are experienced.
More about AlineSPEAKING & WORKSHOPS
Bringing trust into the conversation.
Keynotes, workshops and conversations exploring who we are, how we lead and how others experience us.
Invite Aline to speak
PRAISE FOR ALINE’S WORK.
“Aline has been instrumental in helping me work through challenging leadership situations, when a deeper exploration of my perception of people and situations was required. As a coach, advisor or brand strategist, Aline is a valuable asset.”
“Three hours well spent for our EO Thailand members. Aline’s workshop helped us better understand our leadership styles, recognize our blind spots and think more clearly about the people we need around us to complement our strengths.”
“Aline's poise, professionalism and personal commitment allowed her to immediately and successfully engage with key stakeholders, both internal and external. I highly recommend her.”
“Aline is an indispensable presence. Among her winning traits are her high IQ and EQ, her active listening, her obvious respect for her clients without being deferential, and her ability to ask the right question at the perfect time. She is trustworthy, discreet, calm and consistent.”
CLIENTS & ORGANIZATIONS ALINE HAS WORKED WITH
TRUSTED. OCTOBER 28, 2026
Earn a reputation
people believe in.
Links to purchase your copy will be available here on October 28th, 2026.
For copies for your team, a conversation with Aline about TRUSTED, or speaking and podcast interviews, get in touch.