Podcast Summary: We Are For Good Episode 679

"Shift 9 — Trust Is The Work Now" featuring Abby Falik
Date: February 2, 2026
Host(s): Jon McCoy, Becky Endicott
Guest: Abby Falik, Co-founder and CEO of The Flight School

Overview:

This episode, part of the "12 Shift Series," centers on the urgent need to re-examine and prioritize trust within the nonprofit sector. The hosts and Abby Falik discuss the fragility of traditional systems, societal shifts, what it means to intentionally build and repair trust, and how nonprofit leaders can navigate uncertainty and lead with authenticity in a rapidly changing world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Trust Is Now Core Work

• Erosion of Trust Across All Levels: Institutions, technologies, and communities are experiencing breakdowns in foundational trust.
  • Abby Falik (03:51):

    "Everywhere around us, it has frayed. And it's the essential substrate that will help us reweave our relationships with ourselves, with each other, with our communities, with the broader world, with the natural world..."

• Trust as an Active Choice and Practice:
  • Trust is not passive nor ancillary—it's the core of organizational resilience and progress.
  • Abby (05:38):

    "It's like this superhighway, that trust is either there or it's not. And we need to be deeply discerning about it. Not to just assume it's there, but when it's there, it is such a potent force."

• Rethinking Ambition:
  • Abby describes a personal shift from external ambition toward becoming "worthy of trust" for oneself and others.
  • Abby (07:20):

    "What if what I'm here to do is to become more and more worthy of my own trust and of others'? Trust as a way of modeling what I hope to pass on in the world..."

2. Navigating Uncertainty: The 'Falling, No Ground' Paradox

• Zen Teaching & The Courage to Let Go:

  • Abby shares an influential teaching:

    "The bad news is we are all falling. And the good news is there is no ground.” (09:01)

  • Embracing the unknown is necessary as the pace of societal change accelerates.

• Inner Grounding as Leadership Strength:

  • Abby (09:04):

    "Our ability to learn to fly... is an inside job. It begins through practices that get us in touch with our inner knowing..."

• Learning from Life Outside Comfort Zones:

  • Abby recounts her family’s experience living abroad, intentionally placing themselves in unfamiliar contexts and building trust in real time, shaping her understanding of authentic trust.
  • Abby (11:16):

    "Risk taking and trust and not knowing all of these things are entwined, and they're all muscles that we have to practice and befriending."

3. Modernity, Fear, and Performative Certainty

• Warning Signs of Organizational Distrust:
  • Performative reports, rigid plans, and superficial communication undermine trust.
  • Abby (13:55):

    "What do I find not trustworthy right now? ...grant reports that ask me for false certainties, five year strategic plans... Anything that values polish and performance over presence and authenticity."

• AI & The Dangers of Disconnection:
  • The rise of AI creates the illusion of connection, but can actually strip away genuine human interaction.
  • Abby (15:40):

    "What if this is the moment of reckoning that says all these songs and dances we've done... have been about performance and sort of a thin type of intelligence... What if this moment... is our moment to turn back to what makes us human?"

4. Practices for Rebuilding Trust

• Call it Like It Is:

  • Authentic leadership requires the courage to name reality—rejecting the culture of facade and inauthentic performance.
  • Abby (17:17):

    "We need to call it as we see it, that we put up so many layers of performance, but we're performing for each other..."

• Transparency as the Leadership Playbook:

  • Abby (18:45):

    "...aligning with what's true and becoming more transparent to saying and doing the thing that aligns with that undercurrent of what is really trustworthy here."

5. Hope, Transformation, and Pathways to Flourishing

• Hope Built on Truth, Not Naivety:
  • Abby (19:51):

    "I am deeply and genuinely hopeful that this moment of rupture is exactly what's needed to help us turn back toward what matters."

• Framework for Moving from Fear to Flourishing:
  • The Flight School’s curriculum centers on three internal shifts:
    • Animation: Pursuing what kindles inner light
    • Co-creation: Moving from individualism to accompaniment
    • Liberation: Taking the courageous leap from fear to freedom
  • Abby (21:07):

    "Animation, co creation and liberation. If we can orient toward those north stars, learn the practices that help us really tune in... each one takes a really courageous leap."

6. The Next Generation: Meeting Them Where They Are

• Young People’s Sensitivity to Truth:
  • Abby (24:31):

    "They are so much less defended than we are. They are... more likely to call the emperor naked."

  • The role of adults shifts to honest presence, humility, and learning alongside (not above) the next generation.
• Co-Creation Over Prescription:
  • Rather than prescribing old measures of success, Abby advocates for authentic modeling and listening.

7. Concrete Steps: Practices for Reconnection and Building Trust

• Book Recommendation:
  • Abby (26:48):

    "Comfort with Uncertainty... This is the one book I have read every day for the last decade."

• Nature & Technology Detox Practices:
  • Daily connection with nature (e.g., watching sunsets), digital sabbaths, meditation—not as trendy self-care but as survival skills for presence and trustworthiness.
  • Abby (28:59):

    "We will be siphoned. The aliveness in us will be siphoned out, and nothing and no one will be trustworthy anymore. So find the ways to keep your lights on."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Performative Certainty

  • Abby (13:55):

    "Anything that values polish and performance over presence and authenticity."

• On Courage and Transparency

  • Abby (17:17):

    "We need to call it as we see it… align with the ultimate truth now."

• On the Power of Courage as Contagion

  • Abby (21:02):

    "Every courageous step is not just in service of our own freedom, but it's helping to set other people free."

• Concrete Wisdom for Listeners

  • Abby (28:59):

    "Find the ways to keep your lights on."

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:51 – Abby defines “the speed of trust” and its transformative power.
• 09:01 – Introduction of the Zen teaching: “We are all falling. There is no ground.”
• 13:55 – Signs of distrust in organizations.
• 15:40 – The moment of reckoning with AI; returning to humanity.
• 17:17 – On speaking truth in leadership—reference to The Emperor’s New Clothes.
• 19:51 – Hopeful outlook: rupture as a catalyst for genuine change.
• 21:07 – The Flight School’s three shifts to flourishing.
• 24:31 – What the next generation needs from leaders.
• 26:48 – “Comfort with Uncertainty” book recommendation.
• 28:59 – Habit-building for presence and trust.

Conclusion

Abby Falik and the hosts chart a clear invitation for nonprofit professionals and changemakers: Trust-building isn’t a soft skill to check off but the core work, demanding courage, authenticity, transparency, and intentional practice. In a world of accelerating change and technological facades, leaders must reclaim a deep connection to self, community, and truth—so the next generation can inherit a foundation worth building on.

Further Resources & Connect with Abby

• The Flight School
• Abby’s Substack and LinkedIn (links available via The Flight School website)
• Book: "Comfort With Uncertainty" by Pema Chödrön

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