Here’s what nobody wants to admit: the employee engagement problem isn’t a training gap or a communication breakdown; it’s a trust collapse decades in the making. Waves of layoffs disguised as “rightsizing,” purpose statements that evaporate at the first earnings miss, and leadership behaviors that contradict every value on the lobby wall have created a workforce that’s heard it all before and isn’t buying it anymore. This lecture examines why traditional engagement tactics now trigger eye rolls instead of enthusiasm and what leaders must understand about the psychological landscape they’re operating in. We’ll dissect how division, overwhelm and institutional cynicism have fundamentally changed what employees need from their leaders — and why most organizations are still solving yesterday’s problem.

In this session, we’ll explore what it takes to build genuine trust when skepticism is warranted, how to foster optimism without sounding delusional, and why productivity and engagement aren’t competing priorities, they’re inseparable. You’ll learn to recognize the specific leadership behaviors that drain energy versus those that generate it and how to create conditions where people choose to bring their full capability to work. If you’re ready to make leadership credible again, this conversation is for you.

In this session, learn how to:

• Identify where legacy leadership behaviors are eroding trust and credibility on your team.
• Recognize the specific leadership signals that trigger cynicism versus commitment.
• Create conditions where engagement and productivity reinforce each other.

View full agenda.

Speaker

Dan Rust, Vice President, Leadership & Commercial Development, Infopro Learning Dan Rust is the head of Infopro Learning’s Leadership & Organizational Development practice. He has more than 30 years of experience helping organizational leaders navigate what is often the truest test of their leadership capabilities: leading others through the most challenging and uncertain times. Dan is the bestselling author of “Workplace Poker” (published by HarperCollins) and writes regularly for several publications on the topics of leadership and employee engagement.