Upheavals

Peak trust

Doing some research for a speech next week, I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague about whether certain sectors of the economy – particularly the financial sector – have hit “peak trust”.

My concept, an adaption of the energy term peak oil, refers to the fact that, perhaps, some sectors have reached and passed their highest levels of trust – and that they can now expect trust to be harder to find and to cost much more to generate than it has historically.

I was particularly interested in a comment made in this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer that while trust in business is up, the majority of people expected businesses and financial companies to revert to what they described as “business as usual” after the recession. Most also expected banks and financial institutions to come under more direct Government influence.

That suggests more people now believe trust actually needs to be advocated for via regulation in order for it to happen (which might suggest that consumers really believe that morality is closely linked to legality in a commercial setting).

I find that really sad.

POSTED: Wednesday, 7 July 2010