Tomorrow morning, I will be on stage at the Belvedere Hotel in Davos, releasing the results of our latest 23-country Edelman Trust Barometer study. The lead of the story must be that trust is transformed.
In the wake of the financial market meltdown at the end of 2008, we have gone through a series of corporate crises during 2010 — from oil spills to product recalls affecting the leading enterprises in five sectors to the near-bankruptcy of five nations in the EU.
The result is an even more profound shift in the expectation of companies to operate with increased transparency and in a manner that delivers profit while improving society, captured by my client Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico, in her phrase, “Performance with Purpose.”
We also found unprecedented skepticism, a need to hear, see or watch news as many as ten times before achieving belief, plus an increased reliance on those with credentials and expertise. Here are the key findings for your perusal:
Trust in Business—There are now three clear country groupings – the Trusters, the Neutrals and the Distrusters. The Trusters, notably Brazil, China, and India, withstood the financial crisis and had positive economic performance this year.
There is evidence of rising trust in business over the past two years even in flat-lined economies such as France, the Netherlands and Italy. The key change in 2011 is the switch of Germany and the USA, with the former now in the Neutrals with Japan, while the USA moves to the Distrusters along with Russia and the UK.
Business is as or more trusted than government in 19 of the 23 nations we surveyed this year.
Trust in Government—There are fewer countries in the Truster category for government, including Brazil, China, Singapore and the UAE. The largest drops in trust in government were in Germany and the USA.
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