Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Societies with high social trust can create large, complex organizations more efficiently. Low-trust societies rely more on formal rules and litigation, increasing transaction costs. Francis Fukuyama

As the Founder of Trust Across America – Trust Around the World, I have been studying trust and trustworthiness for the best part of 18 years. I have sought out and learned from some of the world’s leading authorities (there are only a handful, Fukuyama being one) and read thousands of articles, blog posts and books. I am still learning and these are a few of my takeaways.

Following are ten personal observations about societal trust & trustworthiness:

• No universal standards: Because there is no universally accepted definition or “language” of trust, your language and your standards of trust and trustworthiness are different than mine. In fact, even prisoners think they are more trustworthy than the general population. Essentially, trust is both a personal and subjective experience.
• Eroding foundation: As family “time” has been displaced by screen time, parental moral guidance has changed. Parents have lost confidence and relinquished authority. When compounded with early exposure to the “win at all costs” mentality promoted by coaches (often parents) on athletic fields, and “agenda driven” conversations in the classroom, future generations lack the tools and behavior to support societal trust.
• Gaming education: Cheating and grade inflation have become an accepted norm in public schools and universities in America and elsewhere as the educational system prioritizes “grades” over learning how to think. Parents “game” the system by having their children classified as “math anxious or test frightened” so they are allotted extra time on tests to boost their GPA, and athletes have it the best. In other words, parents are not helping their children to develop the character required to mature into trustworthy adults.
• Erosion of community trust: “Politicians are consistently ranked among the least trusted professions globally, with only 14% of people in a 31-country survey considering them trustworthy. Distrust in government has been rising since the 1960s, driven by scandals, perceived incompetence, and political polarization.” (Taylor & Francis) Government officials, beginning with our local community leaders often place their political agendas and beliefs before the betterment of the constituents who elected them, and this obliterates the opportunity to build community trust. Americans are becoming numb to trust violations and even outright lies.
• No business case: There may not be a business case for trust. Yes, there are several annual “surveys” claiming to measure trust, but by virtue of their public polling methodology, at best they are actually reporting on perception of trust, not trust itself. When it boils down to proof that trust is a game changer, there is very little. Good news, there is a business case for trustworthiness.
• Corporate America plays along: Our “win at all cost” athletes and students are considered to be the “best in class” by some large companies where there is no “moral compass litmus test” administered before the job offer. Similar to our government leaders, corporate leaders also believe that as long as they stay “just to the right” of compliance, and grow their quarterly earnings, there is no need to give a second thought to cultivating a trustworthy organization or hiring for the “right” reasons. Stock buybacks, executive compensation and short-termism are all trust busters.
• Trust in capitalism is fracturing: I frequently talk about trust with leaders of organizations of different shapes and sizes. Not only do they not “get it” they have little interest in learning. Instead of making trustworthiness part of a long term business strategy leaders hold their collective breaths hoping they are not the subject of the next news headline, meanwhile installing “bossware” on employee computers because their competitors are doing it.
• No board support: Boards that demonstrate high-trust behavior set an example from the executive team to the last customer-facing employee. But boards of directors, like the leaders they select, tend to ignore the role organizational trust plays in long term business strategy. They continue to prioritize building trust with shareholders over other stakeholders. Without reliable trust metrics. a baseline cannot be established so setting goals and tracking improvement remains impossible.
• Regulations have their limits: No leader or organization can “regulate” or “market” their way to trust. As one of our Trust Alliance members shared, Rules are often put in place to curtail the abuses of the past. A “leader” that is only guided by compliance begs the question: What would their behavior be in the absence of rules? Does one want to follow someone that needs rules to know what is right?
• Media misuse/overuse: The word “trust” is so overused and misused that it has lost its power as a differentiator. The media tosses around the word “trust” as if it were a hot potato. Reporters and journalists frequently conflate trust with reputation, loyalty and ethics. The word “trust” represents a better sound byte, so why not misuse it? And speaking of the media, they continue to perpetuate low trust by focusing only on the bad actors, giving no “space” to those who are doing the right thing.

Is there a silver lining to this bleak picture?  Yes, because some families still gather around the dinner table every night and not every child is a cheater. There will always be the Bobby Knights vs. the Mike Krzyzewskis, and the first day of work for a new hire at Costco may be very different than the first day at Wells Fargo. In other words, industry is not destiny. Like most things in life, trustworthy people and organizations fall along a bell curve. Half are below average, but half are above average, and a select few find themselves in the top 5%. They are the heroes and stars that should be in the headlines.

Just the other day, someone told me that Trust Across America – Trust Around the World is making a difference. I suppose the interest in our Alliance and other programs proves that we are moving in the right direction. But a gnawing fear remains. Trust is not only misunderstood, overlooked or taken for granted by most people, leaders and organizations, it is also voluntary. And, after all, why give a second thought to that which is not regulated, at least not in America?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is an author, speaker, product developer and global subject matter expert on trust and trustworthiness. Founder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World she is author of the award-winning Trust Inc., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust and Trust Inc., a Guide for Boards & C-Suites. She majored in International Affairs (Lafayette College), and has an MBA (Baruch- City University of NY). Her expertise on trust has been cited in Harvard Business Review, Investor’s Business Daily, Thomson Reuters, BBC Radio, The Conference Board, The Financial Times, Global Finance Magazine, Bank Director and Forbes, among others.