Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

A little secret…. do you know the single factor that impacts an organization’s bottom line more than any other?

Low trust.

It’s almost a guarantee that one of these is present in your organization and your bottom line is suffering as a result:

• Boards members don’t trust each other, nor do they trust the CEO
• Executives don’t trust themselves nor their management team
• Employees don’t trust their bosses and vice versa
• Consumers don’t trust the products to deliver what they say they will and they certainly don’t trust customer service to respond in any way that elevates trust
• Communities don’t trust the company not to pollute the local environment.

And so on…

Sound familiar?

Trustworthy organizations have a trust “edge” over their competitors, directly impacting profitability through:

• Faster decision making
• Speed of innovation
• Higher employee retention with better overall health and less stress
• Increased customer loyalty
• Long-term focus and less short-term pressure
• Fewer crises
• Improved hiring- people want to work for trustworthy employers
• Elevated reputation with all stakeholders
• Holistic organizational “wellness”

Contrary to what others may say or believe, the decision to lead with trust is always made at the top. When the leader lays it on the line that character and integrity matter more than short-term profitability, the entire organization shifts its long-term perspective and the way it “does” business. It’s up to the CEO to:

• First gain an understanding of what a trust strategy means across the entire organization (it’s not ethics or compliance) and how a trustworthy company should act.
• Communicate values loud and clear to all stakeholders- board of directors, employees, shareholders, vendors, suppliers, customers.
• Keep that word and promise ALWAYS. Live up to those espoused values. There’s nothing worse than a leader who “talks trust” but fails to walk it.
• Use communications channels to issue frequent reminders about the trust and integrity imperative in the organization.
• Become accessible- Roll up those sleeves, leave the ivory tower and go to talk to the people who make it possible to buy those custom-made shirts.
• Display excellence always. Nothing speaks “trust” louder than character, competence and consistency combined with a bit of generosity.

Companies that proactively build trust into their DNA see expenses decrease and profitability increase.

Not yet convinced?  Take a moment to read this short article that makes the business case for trust from a research perspective.

Need more proof? This is an excellent summary of where we are today in corporate America and where we might be heading if we maintain the “low trust” status quo.

Lemmings tend to follow each other off cliffs. Those who choose a different path to profitability never get close enough to the cliff to worry about falling off.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in learning more, and is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our 2015 Poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

Some encouraging headlines for consumers, employees and the public….

McDonalds is limiting the use of antibiotics in its chicken according to NPR

Nestle says “Goodbye” to artificial colors as reported by CNN

Be it for the right or wrong reasons, Walmart is raising its minimum wage as is TJX

Capital One empowers Americans to close the digital skills gap by committing $150 million in community grants

When companies do more than just talk about the importance of “good business” and begin walking it with commitments like the above, it’s a good sign. From my perspective these announcements sound like more than just corporate window dressing.

It’s worth mentioning that McDonald’s has a brand new CEO and Walmart a relatively new one. Nestle is a Swiss company, and TJX is run by a woman. The CEO of Capital One, Richard Fairbank is also its founder.

Building organizational trust is a “top down” business strategy. Sometimes it takes a new leader to bring a fresh perspective regarding the imperative to build trust with all stakeholders. Other times tenure is more important, and recently it’s been reported by Fortune that women not only make better CEOs, but perform 3X better than the S&P 500.

Whatever the reasons, I’m glad to read these headlines and hope more companies follow suit. Let’s keep the momentum going on that tidal shift in organizational trust.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in learning more, and is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our 2015 Poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

Not everything that’s legal is ethical, and not everything that’s ethical is trustworthy. Or is it? Well, it’s often subjective and the answer just might depend on who you ask.

Every January upon naming our Top Thought Leaders in Trust, unrelated third party companies troll our website seeking to grab our latest list and sell plaques and other “awards” to our honorees. These unscrupulous companies even prepare samples that include the name of our organization, giving the illusion that we have authorized these transactions. Sadly, their business practices are not considered illegal. My guess is these companies have a team of lawyers who keep their employer just to the “right” of what’s legal, and therefore also consider their actions ethical, merely because they are not violating any laws.

And every year, I must send out an apology note to our honorees explaining that I have no affiliation with these companies and have not authorized them to solicit our thought leaders.

This year, we even went so far as to require registration to receive a free issue of TRUST! Magazine containing the complete list, in an effort to protect our honorees against the intrusion of these unethical trolls. A few days later, there they were, registering to obtain the list.

A trustworthy business approach might be for the same companies to contact us and engage in an “above board” and transparent business relationship. I’m sure more plaques could be sold if they gained the endorsement of the award sponsor.

This is a great example of the difference between legality, ethics and trust. Sometimes what’s legal is not ethical. And what’s not ethical can certainly never fall within the category of trustworthy. And that’s why ethics is only a component of trust, a much more difficult goal to attain, and where most organizations fall short. The three terms are not interchangeable. But don’t try to explain this to lawyers or compliance professionals. After all, trust is nothing more than a “soft” feel good word, and certainly not a business strategy. Or is it? You decide.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She runs the world’s largest membership program for those interested in learning more, and is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our 2015 Poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s unusual for people to “unsubscribe” from our mailing list so when someone did last week, they were kind enough to leave a note that simply said “Content is not Relevant to My Job.” As often happens, curiosity got the best of me so  I “Googled” the person’s name to find out what kind of job they hold. Turns out it’s a relatively high HR position in a major bank.

Is it a surprise that this person works for a major financial institution? Judging from the actions of many of these companies over the past six years, I would venture a guess that the vast majority of employees in this industry feel the same way as my “unsubscriber.” They have been brainwashed into believing that “compliance” and “trust” are synonymous. Trouble is, they aren’t. Compliance is about staying just to the right side of “what’s legal” whereas trust is completely voluntary. It’s simply about doing right and acting with character, competence and consistency. It’s a “leadership thing,” and it must start at the top.

The best companies know this and they are the most profitable.

We wrote about some of them in the fall issue of TRUST! Magazine. (Scroll to bottom of page)

The rest are hiring more compliance staff and unsubscribing from “trust.” Here’s a list of 119 compliance openings just at JP Morgan. Some people never learn.

Regardless of the industry, is trust relevant to your job? If not, why not?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our 2015 Poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

According to newly released data from the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer the world has witnessed “an alarming evaporation of trust across all institutions, reaching the lows of the Great Recession in 2009. Trust in government, business, media and NGOs in the general population is below 50 percent in two-thirds of countries, including the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan. Informed public respondents are nearly as distrustful, registering trust levels below 50 percent in half of the countries surveyed.”

“There has been a startling decrease in trust across all institutions driven by the unpredictable and unimaginable events of 2014,” said Richard Edelman, president and CEO, Edelman

Many global experts claim that “trust” is the issue of the decade and they may be right. Our society continues to be plagued by breaches of trust in business, government, academia, medicine, sports and the media, to name just a few.  But behind every trust violation is an individual or a team that has allowed it to occur. There is no doubt that low trust comes with hard costs to society and its citizens.

Is There a Silver Lining? Yes indeed. Many thought leaders are placing trust on their daily docket and teaching others through their actions and words.  On January 26 via TRUST! Magazine winter issue, Trust Across America – Trust Around the World will be releasing its 5^th annual Top Thought Leaders in Trust, recognizing approximately 100 global trust researchers, consultants, writers and/or business leaders. Today we announce 15 honorees that have been continuously recognized by our program for their thought leadership over the past five years, and are receiving our Lifetime Achievement Award.

Please join us in congratulating the following outstanding individuals:

Patricia Aburdene

Hank Boerner

Stephen M.R. Covey

Jed Emerson

Leslie Gaines Ross

Robert Galford

Mary Gentile

Bill George

Charles H. Green

Jim Kouzes

Linda Locke

Edward Marshall

Jeffrey Seglin

Frank Sonnenberg

Robert Whipple

Well done ladies and gentlemen!

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Our 2015 Poster, 52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust is available to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

Customer service is perhaps the most essential component in building and maintaining trust, and yet it is often the most abused. While the customer service team is the first interaction with the public, and the first opportunity to lay that essential trust foundation, in many organizations it represents an “easy” cost cutting “line item.”  As the economy improves, you might think companies would shift their pocketbooks back to their customers, but in my experience, it’s not happening. Just think for a moment about why companies choose “off shore” customer service call centers and the issue becomes clear.

Don’t get me wrong. There are many wonderful  businesses who understand that without their customers, their windows are permanently shuttered. This year, I have had first-hand experience with all the companies listed below and will continue to support the bottom line of the first six.

1. Kohler– their products are not inexpensive, but they stand behind them in an exemplary way. Something breaks? Give them a call. You will speak with a knowledgeable customer service rep who will have you happy and off the phone in no time.

2. American Express– I recently called them for the first time and was startled by the professionalism and expertise of their CSRs. The gentleman I spoke with told me he had been with the company for many years, has worked in all aspects of the card division and often hops on the phone to help customers, as he had with me. Wow!

3. Constant Contact– for those of you who maintain large mailing lists or databases, there are no computers answering the phone at Constant Contact. Call them any time and watch how quickly they assist you. You can almost see the smiles on their faces as they answer your questions.

4. Amazon– publishers hate them but when it comes to customer service, they have their system so “right” that one need never speak to customer service! Orders can be placed quickly and efficiently, and packages are delivered. It’s that simple.

5. Wegmans– while most people don’t look forward to their weekly food shopping chore, Wegmans makes it pleasant and satisfying.  From quality to cleanliness, reasonable prices and great staff, it’s hard not to trust them.  Not only will they “bag” your groceries, but they will even take them to your car. Compare that to the service at your supermarket.

6. Starbucks– yes, their products are “pricey” and occasionally a Barista may spell your name incorrectly on your cup, but the Starbucks experience is pleasant for customers of all ages. It isn’t by accident. Howard Schultz cares and he makes sure everyone who works for him does too.

This list would not be complete without flipping the coin to the worst customer service companies of 2014.

Fortunately, this list is a bit shorter than the one above.

1. Chrysler Group– for issuing me an undated safety recall notice involving the ignition switch, power steering, engine and breaking. The notice states the following: “Chrysler intends to repair your vehicle free of charge. However, the part required to provide a permanent remedy for this condition is currently not available.” Huh? It’s now at least 4 months since this notice was received and the dealer advises that Chrysler still has not made parts available. And Chrysler has yet to follow up on its recall notice. Correct me if I’m wrong. Isn’t this the same story as General Motors earlier this year? Did you know Chrysler is owned by Fiat in Italy? What’s going on here?

2. Amerihealth NJ – it would be difficult to find a worse customer service disaster than this one. Even escalating complaints to the President’s office doesn’t work. The person you speak with will tell you that they receive dozens of calls every day, including those from lawyers on behalf of clients with the same exact issues. Nothing this company does is right from holding on the phone for hours (literally) to not sending insurance cards, getting your address wrong, incorrectly processing claims, to billing. Yet they have received designations of excellence and best places to work! Go figure. Thankfully, I will be escaping from this nightmare come January 1.

3. Comcast – This is the company that claims they “care” but a claim and an action are not the same.  And ….

4. CenturyLink – these two companies work pretty closely because in our geographic area, without the service of one the customer is “stuck” with the other. The companies know it and so there is no reason to give the customer any sort of service. It’s monopolistic business practice at its worst. The customer comes dead last in every interaction all the time. Be prepared to spend endless hours on the phone with no resolution. The option, disconnect your phone and TV and save yourself the aggravation. In my case, CenturyLink loses my business only because Comcast has a faster internet speed.

Any time the customer has the option to send a message with their pocketbook, they should do so.

Support companies who support and respect you. Dump the companies that don’t.

I know these stories will resonate with many of our readers. Who should be added to the top list of “good guys?” Send your recommendations to barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

You can order our books here.

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

Trust Across America- Trust Around the World’s

Year-End Letter (and what a year it’s been)

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We will close the year with almost 400,000 website visitors accessing close to 1.5 million pages of material, confirming that organizational trust is on the minds of many people worldwide, and so the “I” goal above has been met. We expect to continue this positive trend going forward.

The “You” phase began in late 2013, asking and answering the question “What cost-effective or free resources do you, our audience, need that will help you build trust?

To meet this objective we completed the following twelve projects in 2014:

• Published two additional books in our TRUST Inc. series, and our anchor book, won two national gold awards in business from Nautilus and Eric Hoffer.

• Continued to build the Business Case for Trust using our proprietary FACTS Framework as the foundation.

• Expanded our free You Tube Trust Talks video series which have been watched by thousands of people.

• Added several new free Building Trust Reports. Our Building Trust in Community Leadership Report has been downloaded almost 4000 times this month alone! One need only read the headlines to understand why. Print it and give it as a gift to your local Mayor or Police Chief.

• Launched our free living Trust Bibliography with the help of Bob Easton at Accenture. It’s the largest of its kind in the world and is updated every 6 months. Update coming soon.

• Hosted a series of regional Trust Circle breakfasts and luncheons, engaging in lively discussions and making new friends and business relationships.

• Spoke at colleges and conferences.

• Created a trustworthy leadership survey called the Leader’s Project and began to aggregate data and great stories.

• Launched TRUST! Magazine.

• Brought awareness to the topic of organizational trust with our first global TRUSTGiving Campaign in November, right before Thanksgiving.

• Organized our Alliance members into a Trust Speakers group to meet national and global demand.

• Published our 2015 Weekly Activities for Increasing Organizational Trust poster.

And now we are entering the “We” phase.

During 2014, our Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts continued to grow, and with each new member came a new trust perspective and more engagement. We collectively began to ask “How can we, as a growing Alliance, collaborate to meet the needs of our global audience?” This will be our focus in 2015 as we move into year #3 of the Alliance formation.

On January 1, 2015, our Alliance will be temporarily closing to new members, and we will maintain a waiting list. Some existing members will be invited back when their membership expires, while others will not. This will be based on shared interest and objectives as we move forward, and on specific areas of organizational trust expertise which may be lacking in our existing group.

If you are considering joining, please do so before the end of the year. All new members are vetted.

I wish each of you the best in 2015 for health, happiness, and more trust. I hope you have enjoyed getting to know us and choose to show your ongoing support for our very important work.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Did you read Seth Godin’s blog post today? It’s called The Annual Plan Construction Set. It reminds me of the “artist” who chooses the “paint by numbers” option over a blank canvas. Companies opt for “safe” over “trust” more often than not.  “Safe” should not be confused with safety.  Safe is more like paint by numbers, quick and easy. Trust is the blank canvas, slower and more difficult. At the end of the day, “what the artist puts in is what he gets out” and trust trumps safe.

Some surefire clues that, like most, your company has chosen “safe.”

1. The CEO makes an annual appearance at the holiday party only, because he/she spends most of the time putting out fires.
2. The company credo is merely something written on a wall, but never discussed.
3. The compliance/legal department is the largest, and EVERYTHING must be cleared.
4. Innovation is nonexistent.
5. Employee turnover is high and engagement is low.
6. Decision-making is very slow.

Trust starts at the top. It’s risky because it takes time and is built in incremental steps. Sometimes a temporary dip in profitability occurs. But companies that build trust into their DNA are often those whose annual report does NOT scream “safe.” The pages are filled with candor because the CEO has the secret sauce that trumps competitors. The choice has been made to invest in trust, and it has paid off.

As Seth Godin says, “vague is safe, and no one ever got in trouble for failing to meet a vague plan.” What’s your leader’s plan? Trust or safe?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Have you seen our brand new book? It’s the third in an award-winning series.

ORDER NOW

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

Sometimes my friend “Karma” plays the most interesting tricks on me, as she has done this week with this classic corporate “trust tug of war.”

On Monday I wrote a blog post called CEOs “Suck” at Trust.

Soon after, my friend Corey Dubrowa at Starbucks reminded me that not all CEOs are created equal, and shared this recent video of Howard Schultz describing the future of corporations and their trust imperative.

I remain a big supporter of Howard because of his focus on trust. His name has been included among our Top Thought Leaders for several years, and I wrote about him back in 2011 in a CNBC blog called “We Need More People Like Howard Schultz”

And then this morning, Karma came knockin’ with an article in my inbox called Corporate Governance Issues for 2015 written by another acquaintance Holly Gregory. It begins with this sentence: “Governance of public corporations continues to move in a more shareholder-centric direction.” Holly describes the push, pull and pressures companies face in meeting the short-term demands of shareholders and long-term value creation.  At the end of Holly’s article she touches on the role of the corporation in rebuilding trust, from a somewhat philosophical perspective.

So which one will it be in 2015? Do we slog through another year of misdirected Boards and CEOs focusing on the short-term needs of shareholders, or will more follow the example being set by Howard Schultz?

I’m hanging my hat with Howard. As has been proven, again and again, the best companies are those with a long-term stakeholder value perspective. They are not sacrificing profitability for trust, in fact, quite the opposite. The business case for trust has been made. Enlightened companies have Boards and CEOs who get that. The rest allow themselves to remain caught in that ever present net of short-termism.

I want to do my part to help reverse this seemingly never-ending cycle of mistrust in business. I will repeat the offer I made on Monday. For the remainder of the month of December, any public company CEO or Board Member who emails me at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com with their name, title and US company address will be sent our complete three-book award-winning TRUST Inc. series at no cost, with no strings.

PS- I am a proud long-term Starbucks shareholder! Keep up the good work Howard.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

For many of us, it’s the time of year when we wish for warm weather and the sound of crashing waves. Take a walk on the beach with Rob Galford as he maps out one of the trust-building activities contained in our new book, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust.

Rob is a Managing Partner of the Center for Leading Organizations, and a Leadership Fellow in Executive Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

A “Walk on the Beach” for Trust 

Not all of our business relationships are perfect.  In fact, too many of them are far from it.  Yet merely recognizing that reality doesn’t do anything for us, doesn’t make things better.  The quo remains status, conflicts are buried, “work-arounds” are devised, and while an easy (or uneasy) peace may reign, the underlying problem remains unresolved.  It doesn’t go away.  It becomes an opportunity missed.  And it doesn’t have to be that way.

The purpose of this assignment and subsequent action is to provide you with an opportunity to focus on improving one or more of your important working relationships in a way that has not occurred before. The first part of the process entails completing six key questions in advance.  You will then spend some uninterrupted time with your counterpart in a setting away from the workplace, a so-called “walk on the beach”, where you will describe and discuss your respective responses to the key questions.   While at the outset there may naturally be a sense of apprehension, risk or discomfort in addressing things so directly, it will be apparent upon completion just how much has been accomplished merely by having had the conversation.

There are four prerequisites for a successful experience and a worthwhile outcome.

1. A belief that a relationship has the possibility of improvement.  If you firmly, deeply, truly believe there really is zero chance of improving a particular relationship that, in effect, you are “done with it”, then don’t spend the time doing this.  The very fact that the other person might hold out some hope for the relationship, or is willing to do this walk may help you reconsider your view.  If it does not, be ready to discuss with them why you are unwilling to try.

Learn more about all four prerequisites and how to complete your walk on the beach by following the link below.  The book contains 51 other activities and inspirations (a full year) that are certain to not only reverse the cycle of mistrust in your workplace, but enable trust to flourish.

ORDER NOW

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International. Leave a comment or send her a note at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.