MARK A. SMYLIE DAVID MAYROWETZ JOSEPH MURPHY KAREN SEASHORE LOUIS Trust and the Development of Distributed Leadership ABSTRACT: This article examines the relationship between trust and the develop- ment of distributed leadership. It presents a theoretical argument with supporting evidence from longitudinal fieldwork examining distributed leadership development in comparative cases of two secondary schools. The analysis suggests that trust matters in the design, performance, and perceptions of distributed leadership; that the relationship between trust and distributed leadership development is dynamic and mutually reinforcing; that an initial level of positive or provisional trust may be necessary; and that principal leadership and the trust relationship between princi- pal and teachers are especially important to distributed leadership development. Of all the “big” ideas now on the landscape of educational leadership, few are more prominent than that of distributed leadership. Within a few short years, distributed leadership has evolved from a theoretical consideration of naturally occurring social influence processes in school organization (e.g., Gronn, 2000; Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001) to a mantra for reshaping leadership practice. More and more schools and school systems are attempting to develop distributed leadership. Increasingly, state edu- cation agencies and national education organizations are encouraging them to do so. Among the best known of these efforts has been the State Action Education Leadership Projects (SAELPs), funded and promoted by the Wallace Foundation, the Education Commission of the States, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. At the time that this article was being prepared, many of the 24 states receiving SAELP grants were ac- tively promoting the development of distributed leadership. Journal of School Leadership Volume 17—July 2007 469 Address correspondence to Mark A. Smylie, College of Education (M/C 147), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1040 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607. E-mail: smylie@uic.edu.