Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Trust Across America-Trust Around the World

announces its Most Trustworthy Public Companies 2021

Published annually in June via our Corporate Integrity Monitor, these are a few highlights from our current rankings:

1. This is our 11th year tracking and publicly reporting on the trustworthiness of the largest public companies.
2. Our proprietary model called the FACTS® Framework is used to analyze companies and create the rankings.
3. Companies do not participate in our research nor do we receive compensation.
4. This year we are reporting on the S&P 500. Microsoft is the highest ranked company to receive recognition.
5. Since the financial crisis of 2008 FACTS® scores have remained relatively flat. This year 36% of companies in the S&P 500 received a failing grade below 60%.
6. This year our “Top 10” companies have an average score of 76.4%.
7. The 10 companies comprise 6 of 16 business sectors.
8. Five of the 2021 “Top 10” were also honored in 2020.
9. The “Top 10” companies have an average of 36.7% women on the Board, up from 33% in 2020.
10. Five of the ten CEOs have MBAs and have been in their current position for 5 years or more.

Our research is, by order of magnitude, the most comprehensive and fact-based ongoing study of the trustworthiness of public companies. We perform a quarterly analysis and rank order by company, sector and market capitalization.

Our 2020 announcement can be accessed at this link. As of June 19, these companies collectively produced a 27.67% return to investors in approximately one year

For more information contact Barbara Kimmel, CEO, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World

Copyright 2021, Next Decade, Inc.

Trust Across America is pleased to announce the results of its annual study of the trustworthiness of America’s largest public companies. For more information contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO.

Which of these companies do you think has the higher integrity culture, Coca Cola or PepsiCo?

Let’s start by defining what we mean by a high integrity culture. A high integrity culture is…

• NOT the credo written on the wall in the corporate headquarters
• NOT a CSR program or how philanthropic a corporation chooses to be
• NOT solely what employees think of their organization

A high integrity culture…

Has a high integrity VISION that defines its purpose, and that vision is practiced and reinforced daily.

Has high integrity VALUES that serve not only as a guideline but as a PRACTICE for all employees. HR supports these values at all times by hiring PEOPLE who share the corporate values. In fact all silos play a role in maintaining the high integrity values.

Starbucks offers an excellent example of high integrity values:

• Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome.
• Acting with courage, challenging the status quo.
• Being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect.
• Delivering our very best in all we do, holding ourselves accountable for results.
• We are performance driven, through the lens of humanity.

Has high integrity LEADERSHIP who understands and meets the NEEDS of all its stakeholders, not just shareholders through its consistent practice and reinforcement of its high integrity vision and values.

So who has the higher integrity culture Coca Cola or PepsiCo?

Trust Across America has been measuring the corporate culture of public companies for over seven years through its FACTS Framework. Unlike other culture surveys that rely heavily on employee input, FACTS (an acronym) measures the quantitative indicators or dimensions of high integrity- Financial stability, Accounting conservativeness, Corporate governance, Transparency and Sustainability. And in our analysis Pepsi wins. Out of the five indicators, PepsiCo scores significantly higher in three.

While relying on employee surveys alone may be helpful in measuring culture, surveys don’t tell the full story and can be easily gamed. In fact, in the case of Coke and Pepsi, their Glassdoor reviews, for example, are almost identical.

Why should a high integrity culture matter?

In our ongoing research at Trust Across America, all signs point to high integrity cultures being more profitable. To all those companies whose leaders think culture is soft, intangible, immeasurable and/or doesn’t matter, you are ignoring the FACTS at your own risk. And perhaps that’s why Pepsi scores higher than Coke. It may boil down to Indra Nooyi’s leadership priorities.

You can read more about our Corporate Integrity Monitor findings at this link.

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

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

Purchase our books at this link

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Would you visit a shoe store without giving the salesperson your shoe size, color or the style you are seeking and expect to leave with shoes that fit properly and meet your needs?

At Trust Across America we often receive the following inquiry:

And every time, I respond with “What are you trying to measure or detect?”

Similar to shoes, trust is not a “one size fits all” proposition. These are just a sampling of the trust assessment choices available to organizations, and most have their own tool and/or assessment mechanism:

• Self-trust- see Rosenberg self esteem scale
• Propensity to trust- see this assessment
• Individual trustworthiness- take the Trust Quotient Assessment from Trusted Advisor Associates
• Internal trust including trust among team members, between teams, and trust between leaders and employees- see the Team Trust Index from Stephen M.R. Covey
• Organizational trustworthiness- see Trust Across America’s FACTS® Framework and the Trust Across America Corporate Integrity Monitor
• Public perceptions of institutional trust- see Edelman Trust Barometer
• Stakeholder trust- see the Conant Leadership Flywheel

In most organizations trust is taken for granted, and maybe it’s because of the mistaken belief that “one size DOES fit all.” After all, most leaders think:

• Trust is intangible
• Trust can be taken for granted
• Trust has no impact on the bottom line.

And perhaps the greatest obstacle to trust…. many leaders have never thought about the word “trust” or considered how it might impact business success. We hope these tools will help change that mindset.

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

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

Purchase our books at this link

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Trust Across America Announces

2017 Most Trustworthy Public Companies by State

via its new Corporate Integrity Monitor (the corporate Richter Scale of Trust)

(Russell 1000 only) States listed above are those with the most Fortune 500 companies according to this article.

Methodology: Since 2009 Trust Across America’s FACTS® Framework has been measuring and ranking public companies on five equally weighted quantitative indicators of trustworthiness and integrity, forming the acronym FACTS: Financial stability, Accounting conservativeness, Corporate governance, Transparency and Sustainability.

Our objective model (there is no “pay to play,” companies do not know they are being analyzed nor are any internal employee surveys completed) was initially constructed in 2008 and measures the corporate trustworthiness/integrity of the largest 2000 US public companies. Trust Across America’s Most Trustworthy Public Companies ranks the Russell 1000.

This, by order of magnitude, is the most comprehensive and fact-based ongoing study on this subject. We analyze quarterly and rank order by company, sector and market capitalization. We are particularly interested in tracking individual companies and sector trends over time.

No company is perfect, nor does our model “negative screen.” The 2017 highest scoring company(ies) in 2017 received a “79” on a 1-100 scale.

We are pleased to see the expanding coverage of our FACTS Framework in publications including The Harvard Business Review, Strategic Finance Magazine, The Huffington Post, Globescan Dialogue, the Trusted Advisor Blog,  FCPA Blog, and other publications. This release introduces Issue #4 of a new publication The Trust Across America Corporate Integrity Monitor, available to our Trust Alliance members. 

Click here to view previous issues of Trust Across America’s Corporate Integrity Monitor.

For more information visit our website at www.trustacrossamerica.com or contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.

Purchase our books at this link

Copyright 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Most Trustworthy Public Companies 2017

Percentage of Women on Boards

According to a 2016 Global Board of Director Survey conducted by Harvard Business School, Women Corporate Directors Foundation and Spencer Stuart, the growth of women on U.S. boards, approaching a national average of approximately 20% remains stagnant.

Through our FACTS® Framework, Trust Across America has been tracking the percentage of women on boards in our annual research on America’s Most Trustworthy Public Companies. Our 2017 findings are reflected on the chart below. Only two of the eleven “Top 10” companies fail to meet the 20% threshold.

For more information on Trust Across America’s Corporate Integrity Monitor findings, please visit our blog or connect with Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder on LinkedIn or via email at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright (c) 2017, Next Decade, Inc.

Trust Across America Announces

“Top 10” Most Trustworthy Public Companies 2017

via its new Corporate Integrity Monitor 

(the corporate Richter Scale of Trust)

Click here to view Issue #2 of Trust Across America’s Corporate Integrity Monitor.

Methodology: Since 2009 Trust Across America’s FACTS® Framework has been measuring and ranking public companies on five equally weighted quantitative indicators of integrity, forming the acronym FACTS- Financial stability, Accounting Conservativeness, Corporate Governance, Transparency and Sustainability. Our objective model (companies do not know they are being analyzed nor are any internal employee surveys completed) was initially constructed in 2008 and measures the corporate trustworthiness/integrity of the largest 2000 US public companies. Trust Across America’s Most Trustworthy Public Companies ranks the Russell 1000.

This, by order of magnitude, is the most comprehensive and fact-based ongoing study on this subject. We analyze quarterly and rank order by company, sector and market capitalization. We are particularly interested in tracking individual companies and sector trends over time.

2017 Highlights:

Companies in descending order:

• #1 Dr Pepper Snapple Group (tied) *
• #1 CSX Corporation (tied)
• #3 Best Buy Co., Inc.
• #4 Hasbro Inc. *
• #5 Johnson & Johnson
• #6 Xerox Corporation
• #7 Morgan Stanley
• #8 Nvidia Corporation
• #9 Visteon Corporation, Abbot Laboratories, The Home Depot*, Inc. (3 way tie)

* Named for two consecutive years.

No company is perfect. The 2017 highest scoring company(ies) received a “79” on a 1-100 scale.

The “Top 10” companies hail from 9 of 16 sectors. Industry is not destiny.

About the CEOs (as of December 2016):

• Seven CEOs have served in their position for at least 5 years
• Both CSX and Xerox have appointed new CEOs in 2017
• Average CEO age is 58
• At least four are foreign born
• Two have no education beyond high school
• Four possess an MBA or equivalent and three have Master’s in Engineering
• At least three were, at one time, employed by McKinsey & Company

We are pleased to see the expanding coverage of our FACTS Framework in publications including The Harvard Business Review, Strategic Finance Magazine, The Huffington Post, Globescan Dialogue, the Trusted Advisor Blog,  FCPA Blog, and other publications. This release introduces Issue #2 of a new monthly publication The Trust Across America Corporate Integrity Monitor, available to our Trust Alliance members. 

Congratulations to our 2017 corporate honorees!

For more information contact Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Cofounder

Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

You may also join our Constant Contact mailing list for updates on our progress.