Business leaders often talk about trust, particularly after a crisis. Yet, in the majority of companies proactive initiatives to elevate trust simply don’t exist, and that’s why the crises continue unabated and repeat themselves across corporate America.
Building trust proactively requires not only a strategic plan, but full understanding and support on the part of leadership. These facts about trust represent a good starting point to elevate trust in any business.
- Without trust at the top, trust in the middle cannot be maintained.
- Trust cannot be regulated. It’s voluntary and built on vision and values, not on rules and laws.
- Ethics and compliance are not synonymous with trust.
- Hanging a corporate credo on the wall doesn’t satisfy the trust imperative.
- Growing quarterly earnings does not make a company trustworthy. What makes it trustworthy is meeting the needs of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
- Trust cannot be owned by one corporate silo. It’s holistic and must flow down through the entire organization.
- Elevating trust is NOT a CSR program.
- The trustworthiness of public companies CAN be measured.
- Trust is a hard currency, not a soft skill, and it’s more profitable in the long-term.
- The business case for trust can be ignored by corporate leaders, but only for so long.
The most progressive business leaders have joined our Trust Alliance to ensure that they never miss an opportunity to learn about elevating organizational trust.
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
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Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.
Another outstanding post. You need to add a sharing capability for LinkedIn too. Well done, Barbara.