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Ethical leadership, AI strategy, and the human-AI trust deficit — Dr. Larry Kuhn on psychological safety and why healthcare AI adoption stalls without credible leadership.

Leadership in AI starts with trust, and the data says leaders are starting from a deficit. Only 25% of employees say they trust their CEO, and just 21% strongly trust their organization. Dr. Larry Kuhn, clinical psychologist, Founder of AspirVue, and President of Prepare to Change, has spent more than 3 decades helping healthcare organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and government agencies rebuild the trust that AI transformation demands.

• Why trust is the single greatest barrier to healthcare AI adoption, and what the 5-decade drop from roughly 70% institutional trust in the 1970s to 25% today actually means for leaders driving change.
• Dr. Kuhn's Seven Dimensions of Credible Authenticity framework and how to translate each dimension into behaviors employees can feel in daily interactions.
• The 3 predictable fear responses employees exhibit during transformation: moving against (aggression and control), moving away (disengagement and avoidance), and moving toward (minimizing problems behind a false calm).
• Why 50 to 70 percent of adults cannot recall a primary caregiver who was consistently available, and how those attachment patterns shape workplace responses to AI disruption.
• The leadership practices that create psychological safety for AI adoption, and why no amount of technology can substitute for genuine human connection during periods of disruption.

Trust is relational, not informational. No amount of data, slide decks, or ChatGPT output can replace the lived experience of a leader who shows up consistently, follows through on commitments, and grounds decisions in evidence rather than sales pitches.

Fear is a predictable response to uncertainty, and it has a shape. Leaders who recognize the 3 fear patterns can meet employees where they are rather than misreading disengagement as resistance or false calm as alignment.

Credible authenticity is a practice, not a personality trait. Being reliable, real, relatable, ready, and rational shows up in small repeated behaviors over time, not in a single all-hands speech.

• Seven Dimensions of Credible Authenticity (Kuhn, AspirVue)
• Trust at Work research paper
• Three fear responses: moving against, moving away, moving toward
• Psychological safety frameworks for transformation

00:00 Leading Through AI With Trust 02:10 Trust Tax vs. Trust Dividend 05:45 Why Trust Is Declining at Work 10:20 Psychological Safety and Fear 14:30 AI Transformation and Job Anxiety 19:00 Reliability and Authentic Leadership 25:40 Full Disclosure and Trust 30:10 Credible Authenticity Framework 32:20 How to Connect with Dr. Larry Kuhn 33:00 Closing

Dr. Larry Kuhn is a clinical psychologist, Founder of AspirVue, and President of Prepare to Change. He has more than 3 decades of experience helping healthcare organizations, Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit executives, and government agencies navigate transformation. His paper "Trust at Work: The Seven Dimensions of Credible Authenticity" is gaining traction in leadership circles nationwide.

Related episodes:

• Healthcare Leadership, Operational Reality, and System Signals
• Why Human-Centered AI Governance is Non-Negotiable

About The Signal Room: The Signal Room is a podcast and communications platform exploring leadership, ethics, and innovation in healthcare and artificial intelligence. Hosted by Christopher Hutchins, Founder and CEO of Hutchins Data Strategy Consultants. Leadership, ethics, and innovation, amplified.

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