Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Trust Across America Names Most Trustworthy Public Companies 

and North American Trust Award Honorees 2014

Trust Across America- Trust Around the World (TAA-TAW) global leaders in organizational trust, today announced the results of a five-year study of over 2000 US based public companies, naming Texas Instruments (TI) as the Most Trustworthy Public Company for the period 2010-2014. Barbara Kimmel, Executive Director states: “We are pleased to see TI top this list.  The company has a history of trustworthy behavior as evidenced by the following long-term corporate vision:

“One of TI’s greatest strengths is its values and ethics. We had some early leaders who set those values as the standard for how they lived their lives. And it is important that TI grew that way. It’s something that we don’t want to lose. At the same time, we must move more rapidly. But we don’t want to confuse that with the fact that we’re ethical and we’re moral. We’re very responsible, and we live up to what we say.”

– Tom Engibous
Former chairman, president and chief executive officer, Texas Instruments – 1997

Kimmel cautions that no company is perfect. While the ongoing short-term, quarterly earnings focus is disappointing, we are encouraged by mounting evidence that long-term profitability is enhanced in organizations choosing to lead with trust. It should also be noted that while the average tenure of a Fortune 500 CEO has fallen to 4.6 years, those in our “Top 10” average 8.4 years.

To create this index, TAA-TAW began with a universe of over 3000 publicly-traded North American companies, evaluating more than 2000 to identify those receiving the highest 5-year ranking on five equally weighted quantitative indicators of trustworthiness that comprise the proprietary FACTS® Framework: Financial stability, conservative Accounting, Corporate integrity, Transparency and Sustainability.  Companies are not nominated, nor do they participate in this analysis in any manner.  The model independently identifies those with the highest scores in all five FACTS® indicators. A final screen scans news for unacceptable trust violations that might include fines, inappropriate CEO conduct, accounting irregularities, avoidable security breaches, etc.

The framework initially conceived and developed in 2008, is “the most holistic and comprehensive trust “health” checkup for public companies,” according to its founders. “It’s all about corporate culture and leadership, stated Barbara Kimmel. If Boards and CEOs remain unwilling to place trust at the top of their daily agenda, they are missing out on a tremendous competitive advantage.

This year Trust Across America is also awarding twelve special organizational honors named in recognition of many of our 2015 Top Thought Leaders in Trust Lifetime Achievement Award winners. Via nomination, these special awards recognize a cultural commitment to trust as an organizational strategy.

Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™ helps organizations by collaborating with global leaders to provide all the tools and resources required to transition to high trust. More information about all our honorees and their best practices can be accessed via the free spring 2015 issue of TRUST! Magazine by registering on our signup link.

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For more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Barbara Kimmel, please email barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.

Cultivate trust by deepening the conversation. Patricia Aburdene

(from Trust Across America’s Weekly Reflections on Trust 2014)

Today we start a new blog feature called Organizational Trust this Week, beginning with the “Good” and ending with the “Ugly.” Each story contains a trust component and at least one lesson for organizations seeking to make trust a business imperative.

THE GOOD

Silos kill trust: Mary Barra is Breaking Down Silos to Build Trust at GM

Corporate DNA should not change when the CEO leaves: Pimco’s new CEO Doug Hodge will Remain True to the Corporate DNA 

Corporate transformations take time: Marissa Mayer remains passionate and focused on corporate transformation at Yahoo

Great leaders say these things to their employees: John Brandon discusses 17 things great leaders should say

How much influence should CEO’s have on their Boards? Interesting research from George Mason University’s Derek Horstmeyer Beyond Independence, CEO Influence and the Internal Operations of the Board

THE BAD

Trust is busted when fines are nothing more than a slap on the wrist: AT&T pays $105 million fine and gets to keep the rest

The big pharma industry is an ongoing trust disaster: Why exactly are prescription drugs so expensive? 

What to do when the CEO has an affair? Nothing. It doesn’t violate the company’s ethics and integrity policies!

Here’s what the same CEO has to say about company ethics.

THE UGLY

When it comes to violations of trust, it doesn’t get much worse than the unfolding scandal at Sayreville High School in NJ: Governor Chris Christie makes a statement. But the best part is what a former NFL trainer had to say. Read the full article.

OUR MOST POPULAR POST THIS WEEK

And finally, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s Most Popular Post on LinkedIn Pulse this week

Send us your stories for consideration in future editions of Organizational Trust this Week. 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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton

The email I had been waiting for arrived earlier this week, not from Home Depot, but from my credit card company. Without referencing the specific data breach, it simply stated that a new card was being sent to me. I’m still waiting for a similar note or letter from Home Depot.

Does the company care about maintaining trust with it’s customers?  Apparently not so much.

This was the “stock” statement released by the CEO:

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and anxiety this has caused, and want to reassure them that they will not be liable for fraudulent charges,” said Frank Blake, Home Depot’s chairman and CEO.

I wrote about the home improvement industry in a blog post in July called Sorry Our Policy Doesn’t Permit It. At the time, it was unclear why the customer seemed to come last on their stakeholder value chain. But a few days ago, this article appeared on CNN Money and the answer became a bit clearer.

Why Home Depot is Not the Next Target

Apparently, if the stock price doesn’t suffer too much, all is well.

And in case you missed this article, there is even a suspicion that the breach may have been an “inside job.”

As in most similar crises, the company has now announced that they will enhance their security. And so the beat goes on….

I will get my new card and work through the maze and hassle of changing the information with companies on “autopay.”  That will only take me a few hours. But then I’m only a customer, not a stockholder, so my time has little value and the heck with trust.

The important takeaway should be obvious. Even in quasi monopolistic industries, customers always have a choice to spend their money somewhere else. What choice will you make?

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

                                                                                                  Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Today’s blog topic jumped right out of the headlines from the past 24 hours:

Football Must Regain the Public’s Trust

Trust Vital Between Officers & The Community

State Audit of Fayette Schools Shows Need to Restore Public Trust

Restore Public Trust

These headlines rarely change. Everyday we hear about the need to restore trust in education, communities, sports, business and government. The story is the same, only the names of the violators change. I can’t think of a single headline that ever read something like this ” We are Embracing Trust as a Business Imperative and Building it Into Our Foundation.”

There is enormous societal confusion swirling around the term “trust” that stems from this “restoration” approach. It is based on the assumption that trust was present before the crisis. In almost every case it wasn’t. Building a foundation of trust is a proactive decision made by the leaders of an organization, and it is built in incremental steps. In every one of the headlines above, I will venture to guess that trust was never a component of the leadership agenda, nor its Board of Directors.

Unfortunately, trust is taken for granted. It is assumed that it just “exists” when, in reality, it rarely does. Some leaders might argue, “Why bother? Maybe we’ll get lucky and never face a crisis.” I would respond that it’s much less expensive to build a foundation of trust, than it is to “manage” a crisis and attempt to build trust after the crisis. Building a foundation of trust also brings tangible and intangible benefits. These are just a few:

• Improved collaboration driving decision-making speed, efficiency and innovation
• Greater personal effectiveness for all involved, improving team projects and the odds of their coming to fruition
• Increased employee responsibility and competence
• Improved morale
• Faster/more efficient new business development
• Win/win opportunities both internally and externally

These are some pretty good reasons for building a foundation of trust. Don’t you agree? And remember, you CANNOT regain or restore something that never existed.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

                                                                                                  Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

“One can’t assume that trust accrues automatically through the mere passage of time. It grows through incremental steps and deliberate actions.” Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates

This quote will appear on the cover of the third book in our award-winning TRUST INC. series. The book, TRUST INC., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust will be published in November 2014 as an inspirational holiday gift.

Stephen M.R. Covey speaks frequently about the 5 Waves (Incremental Steps) of Trust:

WAVE 1: Self Trust (personal credibility)

WAVE 2: Relationship Trust (behavior with others)

WAVE 3: Stakeholder Trust (alignment with internal stakeholders)

WAVE 4: Market Trust (external reputation)

WAVE 5: Societal Trust ( global citizenship- social consciousness, corporate citizenship, and corporate social responsibility.)

Organizations cannot effectively build Wave 5 until the first 4 are constructed. Imagine waking up in the morning and putting your shoes on first. Yet that’s exactly what many organizations have done.

Said another way, building organizational trust cannot be accomplished via an a-la- carte menu. Choosing to start building trust at Wave 4 or 5, with the intent of using it as a short-term promotional or communications tool, rather than a long-term, ground up, incremental trust strategy is a bad choice. Planning and executing a corporate citizenship or corporate social responsibility program without first mastering self trust, relationship trust, stakeholder trust and market trust eventually backfires. And when the crisis strikes, the weak trust foundation crumbles. We see evidence of this almost daily. Some of the biggest names in CSR also happen to be some of the greatest trust & ethics violators. Just pick up the newspaper on any given day. In this age of increasing transparency, these organizations are fooling no one but themselves.

So my advice today to all organizations, but particularly corporate America, get dressed before you put on your shoes.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

                                                                                                  Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

What’s that expression….”Kids say the darnedest things?” Well so do adults.

Lately, I’ve heard and seen some great examples of trust-busting comments and actions. They generally fall into one of these categories:

• Bad-mouthing a coworker, colleague, competitor or better yet, your boss
• Placing blame before all the facts have been gathered
• Spinning the truth
• Speaking with “big” meaningless words (psychobabble)
• Crying wolf
• Taking undeserved credit
• Fast finger pointing
• Pleading the “5^th”
• Refusing to admit a mistake or apologize
• Pulling a “disappearing act” or  playing the “silence” game.

How many times in the course of a day do you sound or appear untrustworthy? Learn to think before you speak, and consider the potential consequences of your actions.  These are quick, easy and simple ways to build 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 is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books.  TRUST INC., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts. Six months later we released our second book, Trust Inc. A Guide for Boards & C-Suites. In this book, sixty experts have joined forces to offer 100 strategies.

Throughout the month of August, we will be featuring 31 essays from our second book. Each stands alone as an excellent resource in guiding Boards and C-Suites on driving a trust agenda at the highest level in the organization, and provides tools for those who choose to implement trust-building programs in their organization.

This twelfth essay in our series brings advice from  Linda Locke, a corporate reputation management expert and Senior Vice President at Standing Partnership. Locke previously served as the group head and senior vice president for Reputation and Issues Management for MasterCard Worldwide. Linda is a 2014 Top Thought Leader in Trustworthy Business and a member of the Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books.  TRUST INC., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts. Six months later we released our second book, Trust Inc. A Guide for Boards & C-Suites. In this book, sixty experts have joined forces to offer 100 strategies.

Throughout the month of August, we will be featuring 31 essays from our second book. Each stands alone as an excellent resource in guiding Boards and C-Suites on driving a trust agenda at the highest level in the organization, and provides tools for those who choose to implement trust-building programs in their organization.

This tenth essay in our series brings advice from Israel and my friend Lilach Felner, a Marketing Consultant helping companies become trustworthy. She has developed the Trust-based Strategy Model that was included in an essay written by Patricia Aburdene contained in our book, Trust Inc. Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset.  She is also the Founder of I Trust U. itrustu.biz 

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books.  TRUST INC., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts. Six months later we released our second book, Trust Inc. A Guide for Boards & C-Suites. In this book, sixty experts have joined forces to offer 100 strategies.

Throughout the month of August, we will be featuring 31 essays from our second book. Each stands alone as an excellent resource in guiding Boards and C-Suites on driving a trust agenda at the highest level in the organization, and provides tools for those who choose to implement trust-building programs in their organization.

This eighth essay in our series brings pearls of wisdom from  Davis Young, a public relations counselor and author of Trust is the Tiebreaker.  In collaboration with client Revco Drug Stores, he received the best of Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America for the single finest program of the year nationally.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books.  TRUST INC., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts. Six months later we released our second book, Trust Inc. A Guide for Boards & C-Suites. In this book, sixty experts have joined forces to offer 100 strategies.

Throughout the month of August, we will be featuring 31 essays from our second book. Each stands alone as an excellent resource in guiding Boards and C-Suites on driving a trust agenda at the highest level in the organization, and provides tools for those who choose to implement trust-building programs in their organization.

The sixth essay in our series brings us the wisdom of Alan Williams, Managing Director of SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL, who coaches service sector organizations, internationally and in the UK, to deliver inspiring service for competitive advantage. Alan created the 31Practices concept and approach and is co-author of the book THE 31 PRACTICES: release the power of your organisation’s VALUES every day. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality, a Board member of the British Quality Foundation and a Steering Group member of the recently formed UK Values Alliance.

“It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)” [1]

Core values are traits or qualities representing deeply held beliefs. In an organization, values (explicit or implicit) define what it stands for and how it is seen and experienced by stakeholders (customers, employees, service partners, suppliers and communities). 

The tone is set by every employee. People notice how leaders of an organisation behave.  Yet, wherever you are, you have influence on those around you.  The organization is only as good as each of the component parts.

The power of living values is described by David MacLeod, Chair of the UK Government-sponsored Employee Engagement Task Force in the UK: “All organizations have some values on the wall. What we found was that when those values were different from what colleagues and bosses do, that brings distrust. When they align, then it creates trust.”[2]

The transparency brought by the internet and social media will arguably bring the importance of values into even sharper focus than ever before. Organizations are no longer what they say they are but what others say they are.

[1]Probably best known for the version by The Fun Boy Three and Bananarama 1982  but in fact, the original version is a calypso song written by jazz musicians Melvin “Sy” Oliver and James “Trummy” Young. It was first recorded in 1939 by Jimmie Lunceford, Harry James, and Ella Fitzgerald.

[2] Laura Chamberlain (2012). Four key enablers to employee engagement, Personnel Today, 27^th January 2012. 

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

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Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.