Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Far away and just as long ago, in the land of gardens and strip malls, also known as New Jersey, a somewhat smallish “Jersey Girl” named Barbara (Barb to her high school friends) had a rather tall vision to change the world, or at least the conversation.  Barb believed that if she could get people thinking about trust, particularly in business, trust would spring eternal- similar to Jersey blueberries- and take off like a Jersey driver.

And so Barb began to knock softly on the doors of corporate America to politely inquire about trustworthy leaders and their business practices. The responses were far from what she expected to hear.

• We are big business and don’t budget for soft stuff like trust since it doesn’t impact our bottom line.
• The corporate credo written on the lobby wall has trust covered.
• We are already trustworthy. After all, our quarterly earnings are growing and look how fast we are expanding globally.
• We give to charities and have an annual CSR event.
• Haven’t you seen our latest TV commercial on diversity?
• We’re conserving water and energy.
• We are looking in to cybersecurity.
• Our compliance department “has trust covered.” We stay just on the “right side” of the law.
• Who cares if our employees are unhappy? There are plenty to replace them.
• And the best one, the response from the CEO of a Fortune 500 company… “Trust? Interesting, I never even thought about that word!”

Barb’s quick takeaway…the trust crisis is not the “problem” of big business (until there’s an internal crisis and then lots of money is paid to consultants to make it look like the problem is fixed when it’s not), and one person named Barb from NJ is no threat to big business! Go knock somewhere else until such time as trust is regulated.

And that’s exactly what she did, because Barb had changed her middle name from Jane to “Tenacity” right around her fifth annual 39th birthday. She knocked and knocked and did not give up until the right people started to listen, and even lend a hand. And then the idea struck (sort of like a lightening bolt) – if one rather small woman from NJ could get some “trust loving”, imagine how much 100 men and women, or 1000, or even a million could attract? And so she started a movement, A Campaign for Trust, and she invited everyone who didn’t slam the door to join her (except the mainstream media because they seemed perpetually stuck on bad news that sells)!

In a few months, eyebrows began to raise beyond Jersey’s borders, as did the roster of global Trust Alliance members, men and women from “big business” (the ones who didn’t slam the trust door), small business, startups academia, researchers, community leaders, government and consulting (leadership, culture, teamwork, compliance, ethics, CSR, HR, sales, reputation and crisis repair, communications, risk, data security, governance, sustainability.) They weren’t exactly sure what “signing up” meant, but they trusted Barb enough to know they wanted to be part of this particular movement, because without trust, organizations are at best mediocre, never knowing when the next crisis will strike.

The Trust Alliance has been quite busy over the past four+ years with dozens of projects including:

1. Roundtable discussions with industry leaders on building trust
2. Publication of three books in our Trust Inc. series
3. Introductions between members resulting in speaking engagements, consulting opportunities and new business relationships
4. An annual trust poster
5. Publication of a collaborative digital magazine called TRUST!
6. Assembly of DIY Trust Boxes
7. Real world case studies called Trustlets

And many more initiatives including two new programs launching this fall. After all, it’s hard to imagine why any organization (even one run by a small, perpetually 39 year old woman from NJ) wouldn’t want to join us and collaboratively help in elevating organizational trust. So what’s holding you back? Feel free to use one of the excuses listed above!

(And by the way, on most days Trust Across America’s website attracts between 500-1000 enlightened visitors who “get” the importance of organizational trust.)

PS- One of Barb’s offspring cautions about trying to be funny about trust. It’s a serious subject. Barb disagrees. She thinks trust can be funny and fun, and serious too! What do you think?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award- winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2017 she was named a Fellow of the Governance & Accountability Institute, and in 2012 she was recognized as one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International. She holds a BA in International Affairs from Lafayette College and an MBA from Baruch at the City University of NY.

For more information visit our website at www.trustacrossamerica.com or contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Which of these companies do you think has the higher integrity culture, Coca Cola or PepsiCo?

Let’s start by defining what we mean by a high integrity culture. A high integrity culture is…

• NOT the credo written on the wall in the corporate headquarters
• NOT a CSR program or how philanthropic a corporation chooses to be
• NOT solely what employees think of their organization

A high integrity culture…

Has a high integrity VISION that defines its purpose, and that vision is practiced and reinforced daily.

Has high integrity VALUES that serve not only as a guideline but as a PRACTICE for all employees. HR supports these values at all times by hiring PEOPLE who share the corporate values. In fact all silos play a role in maintaining the high integrity values.

Starbucks offers an excellent example of high integrity values:

• Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome.
• Acting with courage, challenging the status quo.
• Being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect.
• Delivering our very best in all we do, holding ourselves accountable for results.
• We are performance driven, through the lens of humanity.

Has high integrity LEADERSHIP who understands and meets the NEEDS of all its stakeholders, not just shareholders through its consistent practice and reinforcement of its high integrity vision and values.

So who has the higher integrity culture Coca Cola or PepsiCo?

Trust Across America has been measuring the corporate culture of public companies for over seven years through its FACTS Framework. Unlike other culture surveys that rely heavily on employee input, FACTS (an acronym) measures the quantitative indicators or dimensions of high integrity- Financial stability, Accounting conservativeness, Corporate governance, Transparency and Sustainability. And in our analysis Pepsi wins. Out of the five indicators, PepsiCo scores significantly higher in three.

While relying on employee surveys alone may be helpful in measuring culture, surveys don’t tell the full story and can be easily gamed. In fact, in the case of Coke and Pepsi, their Glassdoor reviews, for example, are almost identical.

Why should a high integrity culture matter?

In our ongoing research at Trust Across America, all signs point to high integrity cultures being more profitable. To all those companies whose leaders think culture is soft, intangible, immeasurable and/or doesn’t matter, you are ignoring the FACTS at your own risk. And perhaps that’s why Pepsi scores higher than Coke. It may boil down to Indra Nooyi’s leadership priorities.

You can read more about our Corporate Integrity Monitor findings at this link.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award- winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2017 she was named a Fellow of the Governance & Accountability Institute, and in 2012 she was recognized as one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International. She holds a BA in International Affairs from Lafayette College and an MBA from Baruch at the City University of NY.

For more information visit our website at www.trustacrossamerica.com or contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

Purchase our books at this link

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Would you visit a shoe store without giving the salesperson your shoe size, color or the style you are seeking and expect to leave with shoes that fit properly and meet your needs?

At Trust Across America we often receive the following inquiry:

And every time, I respond with “What are you trying to measure or detect?”

Similar to shoes, trust is not a “one size fits all” proposition. These are just a sampling of the trust assessment choices available to organizations, and most have their own tool and/or assessment mechanism:

• Self-trust- see Rosenberg self esteem scale
• Propensity to trust- see this assessment
• Individual trustworthiness- take the Trust Quotient Assessment from Trusted Advisor Associates
• Internal trust including trust among team members, between teams, and trust between leaders and employees- see the Team Trust Index from Stephen M.R. Covey
• Organizational trustworthiness- see Trust Across America’s FACTS® Framework and the Trust Across America Corporate Integrity Monitor
• Public perceptions of institutional trust- see Edelman Trust Barometer
• Stakeholder trust- see the Conant Leadership Flywheel

In most organizations trust is taken for granted, and maybe it’s because of the mistaken belief that “one size DOES fit all.” After all, most leaders think:

• Trust is intangible
• Trust can be taken for granted
• Trust has no impact on the bottom line.

And perhaps the greatest obstacle to trust…. many leaders have never thought about the word “trust” or considered how it might impact business success. We hope these tools will help change that mindset.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award- winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2017 she was named a Fellow of the Governance & Accountability Institute, and in 2012 she was recognized as one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International. She holds a BA in International Affairs from Lafayette College and an MBA from Baruch at the City University of NY.

For more information visit our website at www.trustacrossamerica.com or contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

Purchase our books at this link

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Trust Across America Announces

2017 Most Trustworthy Public Companies by State

via its new Corporate Integrity Monitor (the corporate Richter Scale of Trust)

(Russell 1000 only) States listed above are those with the most Fortune 500 companies according to this article.

Methodology: Since 2009 Trust Across America’s FACTS® Framework has been measuring and ranking public companies on five equally weighted quantitative indicators of trustworthiness and integrity, forming the acronym FACTS: Financial stability, Accounting conservativeness, Corporate governance, Transparency and Sustainability.

Our objective model (there is no “pay to play,” companies do not know they are being analyzed nor are any internal employee surveys completed) was initially constructed in 2008 and measures the corporate trustworthiness/integrity of the largest 2000 US public companies. Trust Across America’s Most Trustworthy Public Companies ranks the Russell 1000.

This, by order of magnitude, is the most comprehensive and fact-based ongoing study on this subject. We analyze quarterly and rank order by company, sector and market capitalization. We are particularly interested in tracking individual companies and sector trends over time.

No company is perfect, nor does our model “negative screen.” The 2017 highest scoring company(ies) in 2017 received a “79” on a 1-100 scale.

We are pleased to see the expanding coverage of our FACTS Framework in publications including The Harvard Business Review, Strategic Finance Magazine, The Huffington Post, Globescan Dialogue, the Trusted Advisor Blog,  FCPA Blog, and other publications. This release introduces Issue #4 of a new publication The Trust Across America Corporate Integrity Monitor, available to our Trust Alliance members. 

Click here to view previous issues of Trust Across America’s Corporate Integrity Monitor.

For more information visit our website at www.trustacrossamerica.com or contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

Purchase our books at this link

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Ever since the financial crisis, it’s not uncommon to read articles and studies about trust in banking and whether trust is “up” or “down.” In the past year alone:

• Ernst & Young reports consumer trust in banks is diminishing. September 2016
• International Banker claims that trust is often found wanting in today’s banking relationships. December 2016
• Edelman reports in their 2017 Trust Barometer that in the United States 60 percent of financial institutions bounded forward (in trust) six percentage points from 2016. March 2017
• And according to The Hill, almost a decade later, public trust in financial institutions remains stubbornly low. April 2017

So is trust in banking up or down? Some of the confusion stems from a lack of definitional clarity. Without a clear(er) understanding of what “trust in banking” means, the entire sector finds itself painted with one broad brushstroke, the reading public is left in an an ever escalating state of confusion, and elevating organizational trust becomes all the more challenging.

Trust? What are we trusting banks to do, or not do? Safeguard our money, earn a good return for shareholders, protect our personal data, treat employees well, provide good customer service, or all of the aforementioned?

Banking? Can global investment banks, regional banks, and/or a local savings and loans be grouped together when discussing trust in banking? Should they be?

For seven years Trust Across America has been researching the trustworthiness and integrity of America’s largest 1500 public companies via our proprietary FACTS® Framework.

This is, by order of magnitude, the largest ongoing study ever conducted on trustworthiness and integrity at the individual corporate level. Our 2017 data concludes that the finance sector remains among the lowest in trust, with an average score of 58.

But our data also tells a more holistic and detailed story, and one that places us in a unique position to discuss trust in the banking industry. Industry is NOT destiny and those more trustworthy financial institutions suffer at the hands of their less trustworthy colleagues. And the headlines above only serve to reinforce this fact.

It’s important to give credit to companies who have earned the trust of a broad range of stakeholders. Understanding that no company is perfect, the following is a list of some of the “banks” that score a “70” or above (on a scale of 1 to 100) according to our 2017 FACTS ® Framework research. Scores in the finance sector range from 40 to 77.

• Morgan Stanley
• Goldman Sachs
• KeyCorp
• Commerce Bancshares
• US Bancorp
• Bank of America
• JP Morgan Chase

Headlines don’t always report the “full” story nor do articles and studies regularly or consistently define the meaning of trust. Trust in banking isn’t necessarily “up” or “down.” The level of trustworthiness or integrity of a specific company is determined by how well leadership defines its corporate culture, and understands and embraces the value of trust in meeting the needs of every stakeholder group. Our study continues to point in the direction that trust is not only a measurable business strategy and a business differentiator, but also a direct route to long-term profitability.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2012 she was named one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International, and in 2017  a Fellow of the Governance & Accountability Institute.

Purchase our books at this link

For updates on our Corporate Integrity Monitor, please join our mailing list. To be among the first to review our research and more fully engage in elevating organizational trust, please consider membership in our vetted Trust Alliance.

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Most Trustworthy Public Companies 2017

Percentage of Women on Boards

According to a 2016 Global Board of Director Survey conducted by Harvard Business School, Women Corporate Directors Foundation and Spencer Stuart, the growth of women on U.S. boards, approaching a national average of approximately 20% remains stagnant.

Through our FACTS® Framework, Trust Across America has been tracking the percentage of women on boards in our annual research on America’s Most Trustworthy Public Companies. Our 2017 findings are reflected on the chart below. Only two of the eleven “Top 10” companies fail to meet the 20% threshold.

For more information on Trust Across America’s Corporate Integrity Monitor findings, please visit our blog or connect with Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder on LinkedIn or via email at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright (c) 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Last week Trust Across America pulled back the curtain on it’s new “Richter Scale” of Trust via our Corporate Integrity Monitor publication with this chart.

This week we’d like to show our readers the most recent FACTS Framework trust ranking for all sixteen sectors.

According to our FACTS® Framework, high integrity public companies have less risk and better long-term outperformance.”

Our quantitative, objective model measures the integrity of the largest 2000 US public companies.

This, by order of magnitude, is the most comprehensive and fact-based ongoing (now in its 7th year) study on corporate trustworthiness and integrity.  We analyze quarterly and rank order by company, sector and market capitalization. We are particularly interested in tracking individual companies and sector trends over time.

Our findings have previously been reported in The Harvard Business Review, Strategic Finance Magazine, The Huffington Post, Globescan Dialogue, the Trusted Advisor Blog and other publications. This release introduces a new monthly publication The Trust Across America Corporate Integrity Monitor, available to our Trust Alliance members and licensees only.

For more information contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

If you lead an organization and want to build trust into its DNA, it all begins (and ends) with you. How many of these boxes can you check?

Start with an assessment of yourself:

• Are you trustworthy?
• Do you possess integrity, character and values?
• Do you share those values with your family?
• Do you instill them in your children?
• Do you take your personal values to work?

Perform an organizational trust audit:

• Have you built trust into your organizational culture with the support of your Board? Share on X
• Is it reflected in your statement of values and corporate credo?
• How do you practice your organizational values?
• How well do you communicate them?
• Will they outlive your tenure?

Consider your internal stakeholders:

• Do you discuss trust daily?
• Do you encourage feedback?
• Are you working to break down silos and create unified strategies?
• Do you share a consistent vision?
• Do you model openness and vulnerability?
• Do you use transparent decision-making?
• Do you ask for input?
• Do you have long-term trust-building goals and execute them well, one by one? Share on X
• Do you share every “Wow” moment in your organization?
• Do you communicate well?

Consider your external stakeholders:

• Have you shared your vision and values in building a trustworthy organization?
• Have you identified the outcome(s) you are seeking?
• Have you defined your intentions for each of our stakeholder groups?
• Have you made promises that you will keep?
• Have you determined the steps you will take to fulfill these promises?

Almost every organizational challenge can be traced back to low trust… and a leader who has not checked the boxes.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Barbara also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance, is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and a Managing Member at FACTS® Asset Management, a NJ registered investment advisor. In 2012 she was named one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International, and in 2017 she became a Fellow of the Governance & Accountability Institute. Barbara holds a BA in International Affairs and an MBA.

Copyright (c) 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

For the past four years Trust Across America’s Trust Alliance Members and Top Thought Leaders in Trust have collaborated on an annual poster to assist organizational leadership and teams in fostering trust. These are some highlights from our 2017 poster: Do’s and Don’ts to Foster Organizational Trust 

DO

1. Act from the belief that trust can be measured in terms of its impact on business outcomes.

2. Trust yourself first if you want others to trust you.

3. Lead by example to allow trust to flourish.

4. Make sure your team members are crystal clear on your organization’s mission and values.

5. Act in accordance with those values and ethics so all stakeholders can trust you.

DON’T

1. Take trust for granted or simply assume it exists.

2. Expect organizations to reflect trust if it’s not embodied at the very top.

3. Fall into trap of condoning or practicing cordial hypocrisy.

4. Think trust is too difficult to talk about or tackle as an organizational, team, or personal relationship issue.

5. Let ego, lack of personal awareness, or overt self-reliance impede trustworthiness.

Thank you to all our 2017 contributors. The following can be found on Twitter for more insights into organizational trust.

Patricia Aburdene, Bart Alexander, Lea Brovedani, Randy Conley, Stephen M.R. Covey, Natalie Doyle Oldfield, Jed Emerson, Charles H. Green, Nadine Hack, Barbara Brooks Kimmel, Jim Kouzes, Holly Latty-Mann, Carol Sanford, Linda Fisher Thornton, Bob Vanourek, Bob Whipple

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Barbara also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance, is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and a Managing Member at FACTS® Asset Management, a NJ registered investment advisor. In 2012 was named one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International. Barbara holds a BA in International Affairs and an MBA.

In our ongoing monthly Tuning in to Trust & Ethics series on elevating organizational trust and ethics, we asked our Trust Alliance members to weigh in on the following question:

Many believe that the HR function plays an important role in building organizational trust and trustworthiness. Do you agree or disagree and why?

Deb Mills-Scofield helps companies create dynamic strategic plans to promote a business-wide innovation mindset.

HR builds trust in how they behave every single day - with each other, their peers and all employees. Share on X

Obviously, how HR deals with employees’ issues, complaints, and concerns conveys corporate culture.  Confidences need to be kept, gossip discouraged (especially by not participating in it), and root causes addressed.  People need to be held accountable. This applies equally, and perhaps even more importantly, to how HR interacts within their own organization and with their peers.  Double standards are common, but to create sustainable trust, they are absolutely unacceptable. Behavior matters.”

Donna Boehme is an international authority in the field of compliance and ethics.

That’s because the mission and mandate of this critical function, as it’s name suggests, is all about a company’s people- and all aspects of the organizational cycle of their people, from hiring and on boarding/ orientation, to compensation, development and promotion; to retirement/ separation/discipline (as appropriate) of employees It’s obvious that organizations can only conduct business through their employees.  Thus, the manner in which the HR department discharges its mission is absolutely critical to the building of organizational trust and an ethical culture.  For this reason, experienced compliance and ethics professionals regard the HR function as a key partner in all aspects of their work.   It’s my observation that how well Compliance and HR work together on the shared goals of strong ethical culture and organizational trust is the critical factor.  Both functions need to work together to promote employees’ sense of “organizational justice” – probably the most important endeavor of their partnership.

Bob Whipple is a consultant who helps leaders build and maintain trust:

Without question the HR function has a lot to do with whether the culture will be one of high trust, but I think it works in a strange way. I think it is necessary but not sufficient.

If HR is not working with candor and transparency, then a culture of doubt will kindle that is hard to overcome. Share on X  

But if HR shows the highest integrity and trustworthy behaviors, it will not be sufficient to create a high trust culture throughout the organization. Reason: I believe trust starts at the top of the organization and cascades throughout the various levels.  The most significant factor influencing a culture of trust is the behaviors of the most senior leader.  A problem leader at any level in the organization can thwart the culture, but a really great leader at the top will root out the problem and eliminate it.  If there is ethical dry rot at any level, the trust will be snuffed out like a candle hit with a bucket of water.

And finally Holly Latty-Mann, a clinical psychologist offers the following advice on HR’s role in building a trustworthy organization:

1) When HR questions management’s decisions that negatively impact the rights of the workforce, they serve equally both management and staff, garnering trust.

2) When HR represents without bias expressed concerns of workforce members to management, trust deepens on all levels.

3) HR is transparent without bias regarding actions staff can take when systems aren’t currently in place to honor legitimate needs, and

4) HR doesn’t play favorites by making themselves the gatekeepers as to who gets what. Share on X

Trust building plays a vital role in the value system and subsequent long-term sustainability of any organization. It must not only be built into the cultural DNA, but must also be practiced and reinforced daily.

Hiring for trust, with the support of upper management should be just as important, if not more so than hiring for talent or skill. Share on X

The most progressive HR leaders will promote a culture of trust and assist in elevating it throughout the organization.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Barbara also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance, is the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and a Managing Member at FACTS® Asset Management, a NJ registered investment advisor. In 2012 was named one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International. Barbara holds a BA in International Affairs and an MBA.