{"id":2975,"date":"2015-09-26T10:23:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T14:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2975"},"modified":"2022-02-10T09:55:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T14:55:18","slug":"volkswagen-betrays-trust-not-so-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2975","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen Betrays Trust? Not So Fast&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=1005\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1005\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1005\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/TAATAW_LOGO_H_color-tagline-300x122.jpg\" alt=\"TAA_R2_EDIT-CS3\" width=\"300\" height=\"122\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been a bad week for Volkswagen and the &#8220;trust&#8221; and leadership bloggers are having a field day. But\u00a0two questions remain unanswered.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Did\u00a0Volkswagen betray trust?<\/li>\n<li>Did the &#8220;right&#8221; heads roll as a result?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;No&#8221; to both. In order for a betrayal to occur, trust must have first been present, and in this case the CEO is simply\u00a0the fall guy in a large intentional coverup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Volkswagen could not betray something that never existed:<\/strong> Let&#8217;s not forget that the auto industry is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nyti.ms\/1FzGCSe\">one of historical low trust<\/a> dominated by regulators, the enemy of trust. Have we\u00a0forgotten\u00a0about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/documents\/case-studies\/Takata_GM419.pdf\">Takata, General Motors and Fiat\/Chrysler<\/a>? Volkswagen is not even the first company to rig emissions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The new CEO is merely another pawn:<\/strong> Who is naive enough to believe that Volkswagen&#8217;s new CEO can &#8220;rebuild&#8221; trust? Who suggested that rebuilding trust be his message? Was it his legal team or the PR department? \u00a0This\u00a0should simply not be the corporate message, nor is it the responsibility of the CEO.\u00a0Rather, the construction of trust sits\u00a0squarely on the shoulders of the company&#8217;s Board of Directors, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2015\/10\/04\/volkswagens-uniquely-awful-governance-at-fault-in-emissions-scandal.html\">one that has historically thumbed its nose at trust<\/a>. Like many companies,\u00a0Volkswagen&#8217;s board composition is far from ideal, and its claimed core values, have been nothing more than empty words. The\u00a0company simply failed to walk its talk, and instead of the Board, the CEO took the fall.<\/p>\n<p>Core values that incorporate\u00a0trust as a business imperative and are practiced daily <a href=\"https:\/\/barbarabrookskimmel.medium.com\/do-trustworthy-public-companies-outperform-the-s-p-500-over-time-d57c6d028a35\">give companies a competitive advantage<\/a>, but in today&#8217;s society they are rarely more than a sign on the wall at corporate headquarters. \u00a0And that&#8217;s why we continue to drift\u00a0from one corporate scandal to the next, with no end in sight. Will Volkswagen&#8217;s board of directors address its lack of practiced core values? Will they take the blame for this latest scandal? These are the questions bloggers and the public should be asking. Based on the Board&#8217;s\u00a0actions over the past several days, I highly doubt\u00a0they will do either.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s my long-term prediction for Volkswagen?\u00a0Like others before them, the new CEO will be instructed to\u00a0talk about rebuilding trust, the company will pay their fines, and\u00a0it will be &#8220;business as usual&#8221; until the next crisis. Too bad for you, me and every other stakeholder.<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"color: #444444;\">Barbara Brooks Kimmel<\/strong><span style=\"color: #444444;\">\u00a0is the CEO &amp; Cofounder\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #4f81d8;\" href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/index.shtml\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Trust Across America-Trust Around the World<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #444444;\">\u00a0whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She facilitates the world&#8217;s<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/cgi-bin\/alliance.cgi\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">largest membership program<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for those interested in the subject. Barbara also servers as\u00a0editor of the award winning\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #4f81d8;\" href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/order.shtml\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">TRUST INC.<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u00a0<\/span>book series and the Executive Editor of\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #4f81d8;\" href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/magazine.shtml\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">TRUST! Magazine<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #444444;\">. In 2012 Barbara was named \u201cOne of 25 Women Changing the World\u201d by Good Business International.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Our annual poster,\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/poster.shtml\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">52 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0is available\u00a0to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know we have published 3 books in our award-winning\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/order.shtml\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">TRUST Inc. series<\/span><\/a><\/span>. They are yours when you\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/cgi-bin\/alliance.cgi\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">join our Alliance.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=1233\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1233\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1233\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/TrustInccover313-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Print\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Help us continue our work in organizational trust by purchasing\u00a0our award-winning books<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/trustacrossamerica.com\/order.shtml\">at this link<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-best-social-bookmark\"><ul class=\"socials\"><li class=\"oknotizie\"><a href=\"http:\/\/oknotizie.virgilio.it\/post.html.php?url=https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2975&title=Volkswagen Betrays Trust? Not So Fast&#8230;.\" title=\"Share this on oknotizie\"> <\/a><\/li><li class=\"twitter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Volkswagen Betrays Trust? Not So Fast&#8230;. &raquo; https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2975\" title=\"Share this on twitter\"> <\/a><\/li><li class=\"delicious\"><a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/post?url=https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2975&title=Volkswagen Betrays Trust? Not So Fast&#8230;.\" title=\"Share this on del.icio.us\"> <\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s my prediction for Volkswagen in the days to come? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45],"tags":[122,136,116,3,5,383],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2975"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5370,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975\/revisions\/5370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}