EPISODE SUMMARY

A familiar complaint echoes through high-responsibility organizations: young employees lack critical thinking skills and hesitate to take initiative. In this episode, John Morrey Collins challenges that assumption directly. Drawing on years of executive coaching experience, he argues that the real problem isn't the capability of early-career professionals — it's the reluctance of their managers to extend trust. Micromanagement and control, however well-intentioned, suppress the very qualities leaders claim to want: independent judgment, ownership, and initiative. Collins examines the data on employee engagement and explains why so many workers would vote against their own supervisors if given the chance. He makes the case that trust is not a soft skill but a structural requirement of effective leadership, and that meaningful change starts with managers developing genuine self-awareness about their own need for control.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

John Morrey Collins is a leadership and expertise coach specializing in working with clients in authoritative, high-stakes occupations, but with a primary emphasis on serving leaders, professionals, and organizations that support our complicated systems of criminal and civil justice. John started his private practice, Critical Victories, in 2013 after retiring his award-winning, 20-year career as a forensic laboratory scientist and executive administrator, having served as the Director of Forensic Science for the State of Michigan. His forensic technical expertise was in the examination and testing of firearms and firearm-related evidence, having provided expert courtroom testimony in approximately 130 criminal trials, including death penalty cases and Daubert hearings. John is also the author of three books on forensic science and criminal justice reform. In 2022, he released his fourth book, "The New Superior – A Better Way to Be the One in Charge," which is available in print and audio. John's many career highlights include his part in the forensic investigation of the Atlanta serial bombings, which included the bombing of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, as well as his 2013 participation in a historic meeting with the US Attorney General and other firearm experts to discuss the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. John has a master's degree in organizational management and is formally certified as a Senior HR Professional by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). In 2012, John was trained as a professional coach by the College of Executive Coaching, and he became certified as a Gallup Strengths Coach in 2022. He lives and works near Detroit, Michigan.

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