205. How to Build Trust in Professional Relationships

ENQUIRE ABOUT DIY EXPEDITIONS

In this episode, Julia speaks with Nyuta about trust not as something soft or assumed, but as something tested, named, and earned. Nyuta reflects on a question that has followed her throughout her life: why do people trust me? Growing up in a loving and open family, she learned not to hide parts of herself. For her, trust begins with alignment — saying what you mean, doing what you say, and leaving no gap between what you feel and what you show. The conversation explores the foundations of her trust in others: professionalism, results, and chemistry. Trust, she explains, grows when someone proves they are reliable, when their standards match her own, and when there is a human connection that goes beyond culture or surface difference. Nyuta also speaks candidly about doubt. Rather than offering blind trust, she prefers to name hesitation openly: “Help me to trust you.” For her, clarity shortens the distance between doubt and confidence. If something feels wrong, she would rather say it aloud and watch the response than let suspicion linger unspoken. The episode moves between toughness and vulnerability. Nyuta shares how she tells her team when she does not know the right answer, while also taking full responsibility for mistakes. No mistake is theirs alone. People, she believes, need someone they can lean on someone who will not lead them into danger for the sake of pride.

This episode is a reminder that trust is built through honesty, shared values, discernment, and courage and that leading requires both warmth and firmness, often at the same time. This episode is a reminder that trust is the greatest asset in a crisis and that it can only be drawn on if it has been built, carefully and deliberately, long before the crisis begins.

About the Guest:

Anna Konstantinovna “Nyuta” Federmesser

Anna Konstantinovna “Nyuta” Federmesser is a Russian humanitarian worker, founder of the Vera Foundation and the Lighthouse Children’s Oncology Foundation, activist for the rights of oncology patients. She actively promotes awareness on the necessity of palliative care in Russia, suggesting legitimization of palliative help and establishment of proper education in this field.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading. In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan. Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.