What the Trust?: What It Takes To Earn — and Keep — Public Trust Today

Trust in institutions is tumbling to an all-time low. About 70 percent of people globally think business leaders, politicians and journalists purposely lie to them, according to Edelman's 2025 Trust Barometer. Trust in employers saw an unprecedented decline over the past year, and 6 in 10 people now hold grievances against business and the government, agreeing with statements like "the system favors the rich," "business and government serve select few," and "business and government actions hurt me."

In short: People are largely disillusioned, disappointed and distrustful of those in power, and once trust is lost, it can be hard to get it back. 

Business leaders in particular are walking a tough line. In his annual letter to shareholders, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink confirmed that basically everyone is worried about a looming recession as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens a tariff war. “I hear it from nearly every client, nearly every leader — nearly every person — I talk to: They’re more anxious about the economy than any time in recent memory," Fink wrote. The letter notably skipped references to diversity, sustainable investing and stakeholder capitalism, a focus in prior years, as Trump's administration continues to pressure companies to back off from sustainability, social impact and inclusion work. Falling in line may avoid the short-term risk of legal action, but it can also alienate the customers, employees and investors that companies wooed with their purpose-centered messaging in years past (just ask Target). 

So, how did we get here, and what can we do about it? That's the focus of the latest episode of "What the...?," a new video series co-hosted by TriplePundit and our parent company 3BL to dive into the big questions on business leaders' minds in 2025. 

Beyond politics, getting back to business basics can help leaders with a mind toward making a positive impact on communities and the environment find their way through murky waters to regain and maintain public trust, said John Harper, CEO of the nonprofit consultancy FSG. 

"The current tensions of the moment, regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, highlight that we missed something along the way," he told us. "How do we get back to the basics of the business? Yes, it's true that folks want businesses and corporations to lead with their values, but I think they want them to do it authentically, in ways that make sense for them, not encroaching or moving into other aspects of life that don't quite feel authentic." 

Okay, so what does that mean? Don't worry, we get into that. "Think about something like a supplier diversity spend," Harper offered as an example. "We're gonna get X amount of dollars to these marginalized businesses. Why do you care? What does that mean for your bottom line? Why should we hold you accountable to that? That's different than saying, ‘We want to expand access to opportunity so we always have access to the best suppliers and maintain our competitive advantage.' If both are done well, you will increase the amount of marginalized, low-income and people of color businesses in your supply chain. But one certainly builds more trust from my perspective." 

Noa Gafni, managing director at FSG and founder of Trust Collab, a platform focused on rebuilding trust in society, joined Harper on air to discuss. "One thing a lot of people miss the mark on is that transparency is not trust," Gafni said. "Transparency is a tool for decision-making that enables you to build trust. The dollar commitments, the Scope 3 emissions goals, these are just a first step."

In this dynamic conversation, John and Noa drop truth bombs on questions like: 

• What are the most important drivers of trust in business, and how are those changing, if at all? 
• What is an unexpected way that organizations can build trust? 
• What’s one thing businesses think builds trust that actually doesn’t? 
• What do you see as the next frontier of trust — what will matter most in the next five years that companies should start working on now? 

Watch the 15-minute interview here or bookmark it for later.