Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Last week an acquaintance reported on the ten biggest reputation disasters of 2014-  City of Ferguson, Flight MH370, Ray Rice, Bill Cosby and so on…. The focus remains on the negative under the premise that “bad news sells.” I’m tired of these stories. They serve no purpose other than to attract “eyeballs” and perpetuate negativity. How about you?

Not all is gloom and doom. When I launched Trust Across America-Trust Around the World more than five years ago, one of our objectives was to redirect attention to the “good guys.” There are plenty of them, but their stories continue to get hidden amongst the bad news. The list below is not about philanthropy or CSR. It’s about trustworthy leadership values and their impact on all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

These are….

The Ten Best CEO “Trust” Stories of 2014 (not necessarily in rank order)

#1 David Reiling, CEO at Sunrise Banks Answers the Toughest Questions about What Makes a Trustworthy Leader in our new magazine TRUST!

#2 Starbucks Howard Schultz “Comes Out” on Building Trust, and Why it May Decide the Future of their Organization… and a bit more detail here

#3 Nancy Lyons of Clockwork in Minneapolis Redefines Employee Engagement

#4 Elon Musk at Tesla Shares His Patent Secrets with His Competitors. Read why.

#5 Capital One’s Richard Fairbank Has a People Centered Vision. His company also made our Top 10 Most Trustworthy Company List for 2013.

#6 Trade Joe’s Employees Dance in the Aisles for Autism

#7 Herve Humler Announces Ritz Carlton as First Founding Partner at Impact 2030

#8 Marathon Call at Zappos Shows the Value Tony Hsieh Places on Customer Service

#9 Rick Holley CEO of Plum Creek Timber Gives Back Bonus, Says He Doesn’t Deserve it

#10 When Good Guys Finish First, The Second Coming of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas

Let’s celebrate these trustworthy leaders and the companies they run. Let’s work together to continue the “trust trend” in 2015.

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 and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Recently I saw an ad for a men’s wristwatch. The company had substituted the “5” on the watch face for a picture of a martini. Apparently this reminds the wearer of the watch that it’s time to leave work and head for the bar!  It got me thinking about “humpday” and TGIF, the “grind” as some call it, and all the expressions workers use to show their disdain for their jobs.

Gallup released a poll in 2013 showing that a shocking 63 percent of employees are disengaged and another 24 percent are actively disengaged. Those disengaged workers cost business over $300 billion per year.

We know that happy workers are productive workers, so apparently the majority are pretty unhappy nowadays. Can you blame them? Overwork, underpay, job insecurity, and many less tangible reasons. And the root cause… organizations with leaders who place little to no value on their employees. Inflated egos, inattention, inability to say “thank you,” and perhaps worst of all, lack of transparency. This is how business is done, and  trust is busted. In a recent blog post  called “In Building Trust Actions Speak Louder than Words,” I offered some very simple suggestions for leaders who want to give trust a try. Pick  just one or two from this list today and watch engagement grow immediately.

Not convinced?  Look what happens at companies like Zappos when employee engagement is placed very high on the “to do” list. And as my friends at Edelman like to say, “If you want your employees to trust you, try engaging with them.” You may find less of them checking their watches for that 5 o’clock reminder to head to the bar.

Thank goodness today is Monday! I love my job and occasionally I even pat myself on the back.

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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Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Have a question? Feel free to contact me: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com