Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

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.