The leader plays a crucial role in an organization, particularly during periods of change. Based on dynamic capability theory, this paper examined the relationship between dynamic managerial capabilities (DMC) and organizational performance, moderated by cynicism toward change and mediated by trust in leadership. The methodology used is a cross-sectional study with multisource data from the top 11 universities in Indonesia. In total, 2,047 respondents, either middle managers or lecturers, participated in this study. The research employed SPSS to test the hypotheses; the findings pointing to the moderated mediation effect of cynicism toward change, which affects the magnitude of the mediation relationship between trust in leadership and DMC as it relates to organizational performance. This study contributes to existing literature on leadership in relation to execution change strategy, particularly concerning how middle managers, with their dynamic managerial capabilities, build trust in leadership, particularly when there is cynicism, which affects organizational performance.