According to Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer, we are experiencing a “rampant infodemic” of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions around the world. Poor information hygiene has left us unable to agree on or accomplish much of anything – including fighting the pandemic. Business has emerged as the most ethical, competent and trusted institution – with 61% of people globally and 54% of US respondents trusting business, compared to lower numbers for governments, NGOs and the media.
Few people would have predicted that a majority of Americans would trust big business when we were emerging from the financial crisis a dozen years ago, but here we are. Maybe we can attribute some of these results to the increased focus on “stakeholders” during the last couple of years, or maybe people are just desperate for someone to step up. But with great power comes great responsibility. According to the survey:
– 86% of people expect CEOs to publicly speak out on social challenges like the pandemic impact, job automation, societal issues and local community issues
– 68% think that CEOs should step in when the government doesn’t fix societal problems
– Only 31% of people think brands are living up to expectations of doing an excellent job in helping the country overcome challenges
I blogged a couple of weeks ago on our Mentor Blog about the CLO’s role in CEO “activism” – and it looks like that’s likely to grow in importance. We also have memos on corporate political activism in our “ESG” Practice Area to help you navigate these expectations.
An earlier report from Edelman also looked at the role that executive pay can play in building trust, especially among institutional investors. I blogged last month on CompensationStandards.com that having a CEO pay ratio in line with those of peers and linking executive pay to ESG performance now impact trust “a great deal.”
-Liz Dunshee, TheCorporateCounsel.net January, 27, 2021
