How CIO Communication Can Strengthen Trust, Retention, And Execution

Lack of transparency is not a sign of careful leadership. It's a catalyst for anxiety. When technology leaders delay feedback, hide intent, or communicate inconsistently, employees default to constant second-guessing. That cognitive overload triggers a fight-or-flight response that shuts down problem-solving and accelerates attrition.

Mike Cartoscelli is the Head of IT (PCF-49) at Pepper Advantage, a global credit management and loan servicing company. With over 30 years in technology and a master's degree in business psychology, he leads a team of 40 across multiple countries. His background spans CIO roles at BNY Mellon and senior infrastructure positions at Salesforce. He believes trust is built or broken in the moments where leaders choose clarity over caution.

"At the end of the day, people don't follow a faceless set of goals or metrics. They follow a human being. If they don't see empathy and trust in that person, they won't stay," said Cartoscelli. The problem starts when leaders mistake caution for discretion. Cartoscelli argued that culture is built on visible values. When those values are unclear, employees fill the gap with anxiety.

• Living on the edge: When trust erodes, the fallout accelerates quickly. "If you lose trust in somebody, they’re gone. They have no faith in you," Cartoscelli explained. "You lose one person, it becomes a psychological death spiral. You lose everybody around you." In the absence of transparency, teams operate in a constant state of uncertainty. "They get very anxious. Do they mean this? Do they mean that? All these questions start firing in people’s heads," he added, describing an environment where mental energy shifts from doing the work to decoding leadership intent.

• Strategic filtering: The solution is not radical openness. Senior leaders are paid to absorb complexity and filter it appropriately. The skill lies in knowing when to protect teams from unnecessary panic and when to be blunt. "They pay us as leaders to understand the entire picture and boil down the view to each individual person that needs to know it. It's our responsibility to keep all that weight above us," he said.

• Blunt when it counts: Cartoscelli pointed to the experience closing an office and relocating or exiting his entire team as an example. "I sat them all down in a room. I said, in exactly 90 days from now, this is the path the company has taken. Here are the options," he recalled. "There was no 'you're amazing, you're great.' People hear rumors. Just give them the information and let them make their decision."