What used to be a straightforward one-way street, has turned into a beautiful, often chaotic cacophony of conversations. It is getting harder for companies to cut through the noise and people are less willing to spend their time listening. Adverts are forgotten, reports are not trusted, people do not feel engaged.

The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The cause of this paradox can be found in people’s fears about the future and their role in it, which are a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior.

What used to be a straightforward one-way street, has turned into a beautiful, often chaotic cacophony of conversations. It is getting harder for companies to cut through the noise and people are less willing to spend their time listening. Adverts are forgotten, reports are not trusted, people do not feel engaged.

The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The cause of this paradox can be found in people’s fears about the future and their role in it, which are a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior.

What used to be a straightforward one-way street, has turned into a beautiful, often chaotic cacophony of conversations. It is getting harder for companies to cut through the noise and people are less willing to spend their time listening. Adverts are forgotten, reports are not trusted, people do not feel engaged.

The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The cause of this paradox can be found in people’s fears about the future and their role in it, which are a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior.