The trust barometer shows bosses have to care more about the world

Another week and another nail in the coffin marked “trust in our political leaders”.

Boris Johnson said it was “complete nonsense” that he helped to get a charity’s animals out of Kabul. Lo, an email released by a Commons select committee, suggests different. It’s a message between officials in the Foreign Office, in August 2021, when the evacuation of the Afghanistan capital was at its height. “Charity Nowzad, run by an ex-Royal Marine, has received a lot of publicity and the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated.”

This, on top of all the other obfuscations and deceits. Not just here but abroad, with Donald Trump’s reign in the US being a prime example.

Small wonder then, that the latest annual Edelman Trust Barometer should show that governments are the least trusted institution in society. Scientists are highest – a reflection of the response to the pandemic. To be fair, journalists fare little better than politicians.

The report, which is now in its 22nd year, surveyed 36,000 respondents in 28 countries. Rising in trustworthiness, though, are business leaders, in two ways, as employers and as bosses of corporations that sell us their products.

“Communications from My Employer” are now the most trusted source of information, with social media feeds the least trusted. While employers cover all sectors, not just business, a large proportion will be business chiefs.

Business, however, is being asked to play a still wider role. “Government failure has created an over-reliance on business to fill the void, a job that private enterprise was not designed to deliver,” says Richard Edelman, CEO of the global PR consultancy that runs the survey.

Respondents want business to play a bigger role on climate change, economic inequality, workforce reskilling and racial injustice: “Every stakeholder group expects business to lean in, with nearly 60 per cent of consumers buying brands based on values and nearly two-thirds of employees asking companies to take a public stand on issues.”

Edelman is correct when he says it’s a job that private enterprise was not designed to deliver. As someone who reported on business before spending time as a journalist at Westminster, I can vouch that businesspeople are generally more honest. I recall being shocked as to the level of trickery and almost casual disdain for the truth displayed by some MPs. Not all, it must be said, but enough to make you realise that telling falsehoods and grossly exaggerating something to score a point were common traits of the elected class.

Those in business on the other hand, could not duck and dive, not to the same degree. In their case, it usually came down to the figures and the figures did not lie.

The reason Edelman is right is that with corporate executives that’s as far as they went: the figures. Try and engage them on anything beyond EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) and ROI, on matters affecting society and they either would not, or usually, could not, go there. The conversation would immediately dry up; they were ill-equipped to talk about any subject outside the day-to-day running of their business. Yet, says Edelman, we’re now turning to corporate leaders for much more.

It’s not only, we the public. Investors, too, are demanding more from the firms they invest in; so too, as Edelman says, are all stakeholder groups. Today, merely making a profit will not suffice; now, it’s a profit for purpose.

On three occasions in the past week, I’ve heard that phrase. It’s quickly replacing “sustainability” and “ESG” as the boardroom must-have.

The problem is that business chiefs, by and large, are not encouraged, let alone trained, to contemplate and discuss any matter outside their narrow field. Partly, it is because to do so would be a distraction from the serious task of generating a surplus. Partly too, it is because the corporate world is deeply conservative; to speak out carries the risk of upsetting some people and they may be your staff or your suppliers or your customers and, next thing you know, your carefully crafted image is being publicly trashed.

Most bosses specialised in saying absolutely nothing at all. There are exceptions, of course, but they are rare. It’s the reason why industry chieftains are so unknown. Very few become household names and appear on TV and radio. It’s noticeable how often on Today on Radio 4, if the interviewer strays off piste and begins asking about a topic that is in the news but not directly affecting their company, that the CEO has not been rehearsed for, they clam up.

The verdict of the Edelman study, which as it says is a barometer of society and is therefore picking up the mood, the direction we’re heading in is that business bosses are going to have to change their habits and, gulp, say more and be seen to care about the world in which they live and in which their organisation operates. Saying nothing, doing nothing, is no longer an option.

They will have to sound authentic. It may not be their politics, but they will still be expected to go there and to come across knowledgeably and as if they believe it. This spells a bonanza for Edelman’s industry, with PR consultants being asked to opine and advise on all sort of areas, on positions to take. But however smart the advice, trouble is ahead. Some industry captains will put their highly polished shoes in it, you watch.