Leading & Growing with Trust with Patty Campagna

In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes sits down with leadership coach and entrepreneur Patty Campagna to explore what makes entrepreneurial leadership unique—and challenging. Patty shares her journey from corporate banking to founding Leading Teams Inc., offering grounded insights from decades of working with leaders in startups and Fortune 100 companies. They examine common pitfalls founders face when transitioning from doers to leaders, discuss ego, decision fatigue, and the need for trust, and outline how entrepreneurs can structure teams to thrive without them. If you're building a team—or holding one back—this episode is for you.Key Points From This Episode:[00:00:00] Patty's path from corporate banking to discovering professional coaching[00:04:17] Key differences between leadership in big companies vs. startups[00:07:40] How fear, ego, and lack of trust limit entrepreneurial growth[00:12:15] Entrepreneurial leadership archetypes beyond the “visionary on stage”[00:14:56] Why leadership must evolve as the business scales[00:17:10] Recognizing and working within your strengths as a founder[00:20:17] The hard decisions entrepreneurs avoid—and why that hurts[00:22:30] Moving from “hero” to “coach” to build team ownership[00:26:19] Creating psychological safety and building trust within your team[00:28:56] The challenge of consistently communicating vision and values[00:32:04] Why developing your team should come before doing the work yourself[00:36:53] Designing your business around personal priorities and sustainability[00:38:21] Tactics for becoming a better leader: tools, values, and coaching[00:41:12] How frameworks like Bloom create clarity, accountability, and impact[00:46:30] Why smaller businesses need scalable systems before it's too late[00:48:27] Book recommendation: Resonant Leadership and leading with empathy[00:49:52] Listening to understand—an essential but underused leadership skillLinks:Patty Campagna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattycampagna/Leading Teams: https://leadingteamsinc.com/Karl Hughes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karllhughesProduction and editing by The Podcast Consultant: https://thepodcastconsultant.com