Want Real Trust on Your Team? Start Celebrating “Red” Problems

Most teams say they want trust. But the real test isn’t the offsite, the values slide, or the inspirational quote in the hallway.

The real test is simpler.

What happens when someone brings you bad news? Do people feel safe saying, “We have a problem”? Or do they spend their energy hiding it, spinning it, or decorating it in PowerPoint?

💡I was reminded of this watching interviews with Alan Mulally, former CEO of Boeing and Ford Motor Company.

When he stepped into Ford, the company was under massive pressure—cash was tight, morale was low, and fear had crept into decision-making.

He didn’t respond with more control. He responded by changing how the organization treated problems.

In Mulally’s business plan review meetings, each initiative was color-coded.
🚦 Green meant on track.
🚦Yellow meant at risk.
🚦Red meant off track, not working, in trouble.

In most organizations, a red is a career hazard.

People show up with 37 slides explaining why it’s “not really that bad,” or they quietly bury the issue and hope no one notices.
Mulally did the opposite.

He called red items 💎 “gems.” A red wasn’t a failure. It was a valuable signal.

When someone surfaced a red, he didn’t attack them.
He thanked them—because they had just given the team critical information everyone could now work together to solve.

That simple shift—from red as a threat to red as a gem—changed everything.

Problems were raised earlier, leaders focused on solutions instead of blame, and trust increased because honesty wasn’t punished—it was appreciated.

He wasn’t just managing projects.

He was designing a culture.

That culture reflected values Mulally learned early in life: to serve is to live, to seek understanding before judgment, and to respect every person simply because they are human.

His mother captured it best: “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

Those values showed up in how he reacted to every red. And people noticed.

When leaders respond to problems with curiosity instead of fear, teams stop hiding reality.

They surface issues earlier, solve them faster, and performance follows trust.
So here’s the real question to sit with.

❓ When someone brings you a red—a missed target, a mistake, an uncomfortable truth—do you treat it as a threat to manage, or a signal worth thanking?

Because your team is always watching.

And trust is built—or broken—in that moment.