From Crisis Calls to Culture: Pete Duche on Leadership, Psychology & Building Trust

In this episode, I sit down with Pete Duche — founder and principal consultant of Houston Leadership Consulting. Pete brings over 25 years of leadership experience, starting in law enforcement where he commanded a major city’s crisis negotiator team. Those high-stakes moments — requiring calm under pressure, rapid decision-making, and deep trust in people — shaped the foundation for his approach to leadership today.

With dual graduate degrees in Public Administration (Villanova University) and Industrial Organizational Psychology (Harvard University), Pete blends real-world frontline leadership with academically grounded insight. At Heusian, he and his team co-create practical, tailored solutions that strengthen workplace culture, empower leaders, and guide organizations through complexity and change.

We cover:

• The journey from patrol officer to commanding crisis negotiator teams — and the leadership lessons learned along the way
• How undercover work and crisis calls informed his philosophy of trust, mistakes, and resilience
• Why he launched Heusian Leadership Consulting to bridge the gap between research and practice
• The myth of the “tough” leader — and why authenticity is today’s biggest leadership challenge
• How organizational psychology tools like personality inventories, culture assessments, and emotional intelligence testing uncover hidden dynamics in teams
• Why most change management efforts fail — and how communication and trust can make them succeed
• The difference between executive coaching vs. leadership coaching — and how both play out in practice
• The ideal team size (4.6 people!) and what research says about preventing groupthink and social loafing
• Co-creating solutions with clients and why a one-size-fits-all approach fails
• The importance of psychological safety, accountability, and transparency in shaping high-performing teams

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Leadership is a skill, not a title — and it can always be improved.
• Authenticity is today’s leadership challenge: you can be both kind and effective.
• Communication is at the root of most organizational failures (or successes).
• Trust isn’t built in grand gestures, but in everyday actions and follow-through.
• Organizational psychology provides the research-backed tools to measure culture, improve accountability, and build psychological safety.
• Leaders must embrace a growth mindset: as Michelangelo said, “I am still learning.”
• Small wins in leadership often start with transparency and listening.

🔗 Connect with Pete:

hesionleadership.com
LinkedIn

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