Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Successful leadership is not about being tough or soft, sensitive or assertive, but about a set of attributes. First and foremost is character. — Warren Bennis

Ask any group of people whom they trust and the two most common answers will be “parents” and “siblings.” Ask them why and they will talk about longevity, familiarity and shared experiences. Rarely will the answer to the first question be a coworker or a boss.

What makes families unique? Each has its own culture. But if the family culture is corrupt, so are the offspring. The same applies to organizations, regardless of their size, industry or composition.

Someone recently asked me if there were any “quick fixes” for low-trust organizations. My answer was simply “Diseases can’t be cured with Band Aids.” Trust takes time and it is built in incremental steps.

If you lead an organization and want to build trust into its DNA, it all begins (and ends) with you.

Start with an assessment of yourself:

• Are you trustworthy?
• Do you have 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?
• Is it reflected in your statement of values and credo?
• How do you practice it?
• How well do you communicate it?
• Can it outlive you?

Consider your internal stakeholders:

• Do you discuss trust daily?
• Do you encourage feedback?
• 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?
• Do you share every “Wow” moment in your organization?
• Do you communicate, communicate, communicate?

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?

Remember, the fish rots from the head. Every problem in an organization, including low trust, can be traced back to its leadership.

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.

If a brand genuinely wants to make a social contribution, it should start with who they are, not what they do. For only when a brand has defined itself and its core values can it identify causes or social responsibility initiatives that are in alignment with its authentic brand story. Simon Mainwaring

We know that trust is built in incremental steps via a holistic approach that begins with leadership voluntarily choosing to make trust a business imperative. In other words, trust and trustworthiness become core values. Many companies, however, choose to view trust through the narrow lens of corporate social responsibility. They measure their good citizenship according to the number of boxes they check on the various independent surveys and standards of “proper behavior,” and then they use the awards and rewards in their messaging to their stakeholders. Sadly a good percentage of these programs in no way reflect the overall health of the company, and fall very short on gauging the trustworthiness of the organization. One need only look at some of the corporate names that rise to the top of annual “Best of CSR” lists to reach the same conclusion.

Over the past ten years much has been written and debated about corporate social responsibility programs and check the box practices:

2005 The Myth of CSR 

Corporate Social Responsibility A Study of Key Features, Benefits, Criticism and the Various Initiatives.

CSR, The Dangers of Doing the Right Thing

Corporate Social Responsibility: An Overview

At Trust Across America-Trust Around the World, we have been tracking the trustworthiness of almost 2500 public companies over the past five years using our proprietary FACTS Framework. In reviewing the data, what’s often clear is that many of the companies using CSR success as the gold standard of good business are falling far short in other areas of corporate health. Let’s not forget that Enron claimed to have one of the best CSR programs.

Where does CSR end and moral responsibility begin? Does CSR distract the public from asking deeper ethical questions. Does it similarly distract Boards of Directors and C-Suites?

Many claim that any corporate program that “betters” society is good, but not everyone agrees on what is “better” or good. We argue that the betterment of society is not enough. Core values hold the key.

It would behoove leadership to look deeper into trust as a holistic business imperative. Exercising does not ensure good health. Eating well, lowering stress and getting enough sleep are just as important.

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.

Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game. ~ Tony Allesandra

Who remembers Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the Telephone Operator from Saturday Night Live?

This past July I wrote a blog post called Sorry, Our Policy Doesn’t Permit It  that attracted lots of attention and followup notes. Today I have another customer service blunder courtesy of our local phone company.

Until this week I had not paid the bill for our office phone service for three months, simply because the online “Pay” button on the company website had disappeared and I had spent too much time looking for it.  The bill was now over $150.00, so it was time to make that dreaded customer service call. After pressing lots of buttons and codes, I was connected to “Jason” who quickly assessed the issue and advised me that I was connected to the wrong department.  He could not solve the “Pay” button problem but COULD take the payment over the phone, with a service charge of $4.00. When I told him I wasn’t interested in paying the service charge, but wanted to offer a suggestion, his response was simply “I don’t want to hear your suggestion as this call is being recorded. All I want to do now is transfer the call.” I told him that the recording of the call was all the more reason for me to make the suggestion, hoping that maybe someone would actually hear it! Every “Jason” should be given an $8.00/day discretionary allowance to accept a phone payment without the service charge. After all, what company wants to forego $150.00 to save $4.00?

Why is it so difficult for companies to provide excellent customer service? Is it poor leadership, low priority, too many policies, poor training, low pay, or all of the above? Why should I believe that this company cares about me as a customer? Why should I want to continue to do business with them? Why should I even care when apparently they don’t?

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.

A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.  David Ogilvy

Advertisers play the silliest trust-busting games. We’ve all seen that little “x” in the corner of an online ad. You know what I’m talking about. The one that’s almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Here’s the part where trust gets muddied. If I’m looking for the “x” it means I don’t want to see the ad, or I’m not interested in the product. So why not make that X really BIG and BOLD so people like me don’t have to hunt for it and mumble something about busted trust as we are searching for the tiny little “x” in the corner.

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.

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.–   John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Those of us who work in trust know all too well the ABC’s and equations. They are helpful tools, reminders and mnemonics for leaders who have taken the first step- acknowledgement that trust is a business imperative. While we assume broad acceptance of this concept, it’s actually a faulty assumption.

Some recent conversations have lead to a startling realization. When it comes to trust, most leaders haven’t even learned the basic language. We assume they have mastered their ABC’s,  grasping the value of trust as a “hard” business metric, but realistically, the word “trust” has never even crossed their minds, at least not as it relates to their leadership strategy.

It’s been proven time and again, and by multiple sources, that the most trustworthy organizations are run by trustworthy leaders and the rewards are immense and tangible. I wrote about this in a recent blog post called Trust & the Blinder Effect at the Top.

So what will it take? I assert that it will require a global awareness campaign, reinforcing the multiple benefits of high trust leadership and high trust organizations. At Trust Across America-Trust Around the World, we began this campaign over five years ago, and it has been growing. Is trust important to you? Would you like to join us?

Very shortly, we will be announcing a new initiative for November, but in the meantime, these are just a few quick ideas:

• If you are a leader, consider what role trust plays in your organization. Our free Leader’s Survey may be helpful.
• If you know someone who is a leader, ask them what role trust plays in theirs, or share the link above with them.
• Read a book on organizational trust and buy one for a colleague. You will find many ideas in our Reading Room.
• Join a regional trust group by joining our Alliance.
• Take advantage of all the free resources on our website.
• Email us at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com and we will direct you to an expert to assist you if we can’t.

Earlier this year Dov Seidman, the founder and CEO of LRN, called for a leadership Apology Cease-fire via the NY Times Dealbook. As Dov explained,  “You need to earn back trust and change your behavior in a way that proves, without question, that you mean it.” He was speaking about authentic leadership apologies, containing specific components outlined in the article. That was in February and since then Dov has been searching for examples. He reported on his findings early in September, having identified one authentic apology back in 2008. It came from a political leader.

Last week I wrote about the “apology” offered by Home Depot’s CEO after the latest in a string of corporate data breaches. He must have missed Dov’s apology cease-fire request in February. I suppose the CEO of General Motors  and the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline did too.

The global crisis is not one of trust, but actually one of leadership. Until executives and their respective Boards or advisors learn how to build trust by incorporating it into their DNA and then placing trust on the daily docket, we will continue to hear empty apologies. Yes, culture change takes time, perhaps a year or eighteen months, and since bad behavior rarely gets punished, there is little to no incentive to alter the status quo.

The good news, industry is not destiny. There are many organizations with high trust environments. They are rewarded with increased profitability, more loyal stakeholders and long term enterprise sustainability, among other benefits.  And, most important, by building trust into their DNA, they rarely find themselves having to apologize at all.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher-  Dalai Lama

October is Tolerance Month 

according to Trust Across America’s

2014 Calendar

A trusted leader is open to new ideas that may not align with his own. Tolerance empowers stakeholders with ownership and leads to higher engagement at all levels.

During the  52 weeks of 2014 you can build trust in your organization by thinking about, discussing and following the advice of the experts. Below are weekly reflections on trust for October 2014.

• Week 1: Leaders committed to candor will create and build trust. LJ Rittenhouse, Rittenhouse Rankings

• Week 2: Trust produces trustworthy behavior, not the other way around. Carol Sanford, Author

• Week 3: Managers gain employees’ trust by discerning and distrusting impostors, bootlickers, and liars.Dr. Reuven Shapira, Western Galilee Academic College, Israel.

• Week 4: Higher performing organizations depend on the ability to predict the behavior of others accurately, requiring deep trust. David A. Shore, Harvard University.

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.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
– Albert Einstein

Most leaders gauge their performance on metrics that “matter” to their Board of Directors like earnings growth, expansion, new products, acquisitions, cost savings, etc. But how much better would those KPI’s be if the man (or woman) in the ivory tower lead with trust?

Last week I wrote about The Blinder Effect at the Top. With Gallup’s research showing only 13% of workers as engaged, it’s not hard to conclude that most employees aren’t “feelin’ the love” and KPI’s suffer as a result.

It’s Monday morning. Do you know if you are leading with trust?

Record the following over the course of the week:

• Percentage of employees who arrive to work on time.
• Percentage of employees who call in sick.
• Percentage of employees who leave work early.
• Number of excuses for work not completed.
• Number of fires you need to extinguish.

Also count the number of times you:

• Come down out of your ivory tower and on to the shop floor.
• Ask an employee about their family and kids.
• Praise someone for a job well done or pat them on the back.
• Hold an impromptu celebration or an ice cream party.
• Ask for feedback.

Trustworthy leaders look up, walk around and engage with their employees. Practiced daily, your KPI’s will soar. This is the simple stuff, but it can’t be delegated.  As Nike says “Just do it!”

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.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. ~ Aldous Huxley

We all know someone who has suffered a health scare and subsequently chose to get healthy. A new diet, exercise program and education in stress reduction. While most times the outcome is a holistically healthier individual, the choice is only made in the face of a crisis.

Five years ago Trust Across America-Trust Around the World developed a framework for organizational trust called FACTS. It operates off the same principles as holistic health. Our theory is a simple one. Just like the human body, all it takes for organizational failure is one diseased organ.

The healthiest people I know don’t wait for a crisis to get healthy. They practice it proactively. And in our research of over 2000 companies spanning 5 years, the most trustworthy companies follow the same strategy. Rather than reacting to a crisis, they build trust into their DNA. The healthy individual enjoys a longer and higher quality of life,  and the trustworthy company has greater profitability and longer-term sustainability. And while most people do not practice health proactively, neither do most companies.

Why not? As a CEO told me the other evening over a glass of wine, “I like that word trust. I never considered it as a business strategy.”

Don’t wait for the next crisis to get healthy. Build trust into your business agenda, and practice it proactively.  If you don’t know how, we can help.

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.

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.