In my last post, I blogged about the Edelman Trust Barometer. A commenter raised some great questions about trust in general: why is trust down? How can we get it back up? Those questions inspired a little more research on my part and I found two videos from of Edelman CEO Richard Edelman commenting on the key findings of the Trust Barometer.
In the first video about a minute and 35 seconds in, Edelman makes a great statement when he says that now is the time when CEOs should be reaching out and inspiring constituents. In our class we have learned that interaction is key (especially today). So to answer the question about what to do to rebuild trust, I think that CEOs (and banks for that matter) know the answer: be more open and interactive.
A little after two and a half minutes into the video, Edelman delves into the findings from the Trust Barometer. He states that overall trust in institutions is down right now and it may be in part because of the banking situation. The economic situation has people afraid of losing money in banks and the general distrust in advertising must follow: everyone is trying to make or save a buck.
In the second video, Edelman continues his discussion on the Trust Barometer’s findings and explains how it affects the PR business. The entire second half of the interview is an interesting watch given the questions stated above. Researching why trust is down, I’m learning, is imperative to knowing how to build it back up again. I will definitely be posting more about this topic in the future…
March 30, 2009 at 2:29 am
Trust in businesses and corporations is probably at an all-time low, at least for individuals in our generation. It makes sense that to re-build it companies must become more open and interactive with their publics. The American people have been duped by individuals who weren’t willing to be open to their stakeholders and that is one of the many reasons why they were able to get away with the crimes they committed. If a company in this day in age cannot be transparent then it should raise a flag to any investors trying to put money into the company.