The Edelman Trust Barometer turns 25 this year, a quarter century of measuring trust in Business, Government, Media, and NGOs. Our work has been cited in global media, annual shareholder letters, scholarly journals and in the political arena. There are five macro trends we have discovered over those 25 years — the rise of Business as the most trusted institution; the growing Mass-Class divide on trust of institutions; the battle for truth as media is no longer seen as a source of reliable facts; the move of trust to local entities leading to high trust in My Employer; and the rise of Polarization as ideology has become identity.
Earlier this week we held the Edelman Trust Institute Trust Summit at Columbia University’s Journalism School. We convened academics, business leaders, journalists, NGO heads and government officials for a discussion of critical topics ranging from AI to the future of media. Here are ten provocations from the day-long discussion that stood out to me:
- Affective Polarization—The utter contempt we feel for those on the other side of the political spectrum to the extent we are not willing to work with or live near a person who disagrees with your political views.
- Web 4.0 and Web 5.0—We are rapidly approaching a personalized internet via Web 4.0, unfortunately well ahead of the development of a mechanism for trust, which provides the provenance of information (Web 5.0).
- Faith Versus Cynicism—Trust depends on optimism. How can we utilize different authority figures such as pastors to provide wisdom, hope and perspective.
- Distrust Is Profitable— Government and Media are locked in a death embrace, with sensationalistic claims from extreme politicians amplified by ideologically-driven media amassing clicks and donations.
- Value of Vulnerability—Is radical transparency, including admitting weaknesses, shortcomings and areas of doubt the basis of trust? Does this apply to leaders as well as institutions?
- Rush to Righteousness—We are now observing oppositional tribalism, which is spilling over into violence, based on feelings of moral superiority. How do we create a more robust dialogue with constructive engagement?
- Competence and Benevolence—There is a place beyond ethical behavior, which encompasses a pro-societal disposition to do good that pairs with competence as trust builders.
- Geo-Political Divides—This is evident in East versus West (China versus U.S., Global North versus South; greater optimism in developing world but deep sense of grievance due to Covid vaccine allocation), even within nations (Midwestern U.S. has become the least trusting region).
- À la carte reality—The deleterious media business model engenders and supports people accepting as fact only that which they want to believe is true.
- Cognitive versus Emotional—Institutions are relying excessively on rational arguments and overlooking the heightened level of fear that blocks absorption of data-centric arguments. How do we balance fact with emotion?
Working alongside many of the world’s most prominent thinkers on trust was my ultimate sports fantasy (ok, I would love to have been Michael Jordan). We will incorporate these ten themes into the development of our 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer and our next 25 years of Trust research. Thank you to all the members of the Edelman Trust Institute team, especially Justin Blake, Tonia Ries, David Bersoff, Caitlin Semo, Ellie Smith and Susannah Ferris the soul of the Trust Summit machine.
Richard Edelman is CEO.
