On Trust

“The more things change, the more they remain the same”. This proverb originally in French was attributed to the novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849. It also appeared in GB Shaw’s Revolutionist’s Handbook in 1903. It makes me salute these wonderful writers who had a deep insight into human relationships and perhaps a lesson for all of us in business.

Trust has long been touted as the bedrock of all relationships. It is no different in business. Gaining and keeping the Customer’s trust today, this has become the most sought after virtue by corporates. More so after the turbulence that the global economy has been rocked by. Those corporates who managed to hold the customer’s trust were not abandoned and they were able to ride out the rough patch better that those who did not carry a large ‘trust’ deposit.

The key bit to understand is that trust is an elusive quality. It is intangible and it stands to reason that trust can’t be measured. Trust is a dynamic, organic value that never exists from the beginning. It is not something we can assume or take for granted. Therefore, it is not a static quality or ‘social glue’ that is available to draw upon. Trust is an emotional skill, an active cache in our lives that we build and sustain with our promises and commitments, our emotions and integrity and above all our actions.

Looking backwards, the most trusted brands were ones that were either big or had existed for a long period of time. It would not be wrong to see 2 very obvious pillars that trusted brands rested on – scale and lineage. These two important virtues seemed sufficient elements for success and eventually set up a virtuous cycle for being trusted. These were 2 cushions that were a tremendous source of comfort for firms to succeed with customers. Simplistic as it may sound, if you are big and had been there long enough, you can be trusted. It was called experience.

These companies built large trust deposits by keeping promises made to customers. They continuously were conscious of their credibility and accountability. That was the key to acceptance for new customers and for existing customers to continue their patronage. Trust was an importance constituent of loyalty.

The citadel of trust works when it is not challenged. Surprisingly, one could blame the most liberating of words for that erosion – choice. There is an all round erosion of trust across businesses and categories as consumers become flooded with choice and a variety of promises, some of which one finds hard to ‘trust’. Companies are struggling with new ways and means of regaining trust. Meanwhile, trust has acquired a new definition with the new age customer.

These new dimensions that have got added to the determinants of trust. The value of time, shortening business cycles and ever-thinning buffers in the business process has brought a new word in the trust lexicon – promise. Just keeping promises made to customers is not enough to today’s consumers. Keeping promises made to customers on time is the new requirement. There are numerous categories that are using that as an anchor. They cry out – consider me, for I deliver on time. In most cases, on time means fast. One can understand food and package deliveries but hospital services! There are a few hospitals in US that offer quid pro quo for your time. A city hospital has started offering cinema passes to patients who have to wait 30 minutes for emergency room services.

Transparency is another word that has joined ranks with credibility and reliability as a trust determinant. Credibility has to do with words we speak and reliability has to do with actions. But both words and actions have to become transparent and visible to consumers now.

In an environment, where all information is available in open and 24 hours through multiple sources, customer is seeking complete transparency in his dealings with the company. Transparency has the great virtue of helping recall who said what to whom. The key to creating such trust, they show, is communication, a willingness to bring an uncomfortable subject into the open. At one level, the customer seeks disclosure and hates to be surprised with a piece of information which tells him or her that there was a gap in the decision process. Nobody like to be taken for a ride!


If ‘size’ for a corporation is no longer a guarantee for trust, then what is? Perhaps, being a “Connected Corporation” is the answer. A Connected Corporation with its permeable boundaries and complex web of links to other people and organizations, places great emphasis on establishment of relationships and of a highly collaborative approach to business. People trust companies they perceive to be part of local community and culture. The key would be for corporates to widen the river-bed of the reality they operate in. Narrow profit-taking and focus may be good for building up momentum and creating a growth trajectory. Let us not forget that the most fertile and productive regions are where the river overflows its banks and creates flood plains.