trust – The Burble

Black Lives Matter

Like many people I watched the video of the killing of George Floyd with a quiet disbelief. That someone can kneel on the neck of a fellow human being and think that is acceptable I find shocking. . What is more shocking is that the racism that led to Mr Floyd’s death goes on under my nose and across the world and I barely notice; I am privileged that society over the years has favoured both men and people with white skins.

As a strong advocate of Diversity and Inclusion at work and as the chair of our D&I council progress has been made particularly in the relationship between men and women but its clear we and I have a lot more to do.

But I do see a lot of comment about all lives mattering. And I thought I’d share the following as I think this gives a really simple explanation of why Black Lives Matter.

There is so much to be done but I am going to play my part and make a difference if I can.

The business of trust.

Companies and businesses have a problem – Trust. Put simply there is a decline in how much trust is being placed in business by customers and society in general. And a business that isn’t trusted isn’t going to survive for long. But is trust that important?

I think so. Customers are spending more time researching the companies they buy from, and the fact that so much information is available on line, opens up a business to a lot more scrutiny than previously possible. As customers are subject to exponential levels of change they will look to anchor themselves through relationships based on trust.

Would you go to a Doctor you didn’t trust?

And businesses play a huge role in society, providing income and rewarding places to work, generating wealth and making tax payments to help governments support their chosen areas of investment. The problem is partly guilt by association. As Edelman reported there is a collapse in trust in 4 of the major institutions (Business, Government, NGOs and Media) in many countries around the world.

At the same time however, businesses face some challenges that while not specific to industry will have a large and potentially dramatic impact. The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is beginning to reshape what business is and what it does and how it does it.

And trust is going to be come one of the most important topics businesses will have to deal with.