Reputation Roundup: Corporate Leaders Building Trust | Global Conference 2025

Current State of Trust in Institutions

• Trust across government, media, politicians, and information sources is at an all-time low, driven by economic exposure and a sense that systems are "rigged."
• 75% of people believe opportunity for their children is less than for their parents, contributing to a pervasive sense of pessimism.
• The information environment is fragmented, requiring users to navigate trust decisions differently than in previous decades.
• 72% of America's GDP is consumer-driven, yet a fissure has formed between businesses and consumers who feel uncared for.
• 82% of Americans believe the values held by today's business leaders do not match those of everyday people.
• 71% of the top 100 companies saw their reputation scores decline last year due to inflation and passing on profits.
• The Supreme Court remains a "bright spot" with approximately 67% of the public trusting it to stand up for Americans.

Corporate Strategies for Rebuilding Trust

• Time (Jessica Sibley): Trust is the core value of the 102-year-old brand; a "Red Border" campaign explicitly stands for trust and truth.
• Time leverages deep relationships with high-profile sources, including a unique Taylor Swift interview that drove business results.
• Time secured the first on-the-record 100-day exclusive interview with President Trump, with data showing audiences read the transcript more than the article.
• Time 100 featured a record number of CEOs and a diverse range of voices (22 to 84 years old) to demonstrate impact and influence.
• CEO Jessica Sibley emphasizes "Time 3.0" as a transformation strategy, committing to announcing goals publicly and delivering on them immediately.
• Sibley advocates for authentic, unscripted communication, noting that pre-written statements often result in negative audience reception.
• X Corp (Linda Iaccarino): Trust on X is built on the mission to protect freedom of speech globally without censorship.
• X reduced its workforce from 8,000 to 1,500 to create a mission-driven culture, yet maintained high internal trust.
• "Community Notes" has reached 1 million users across 200 countries, acting as a global collective intelligence to fact-check posts.
• Data shows users are 60% less likely to share a post that receives a negative Community Note.
• 96 of the top 100 advertisers have returned to the X platform within two years of the transformation.
• X reports less than 1 million users under age 18 and claims to have eliminated bad actors targeting children.
• X employs over 70 policies to manage hate speech, distinguishing between disagreement and violent behavior.
• Content violating policies but not illegal law is limited in reach ("freedom of speech, not reach") via automation and global monitoring agents.
• The integration of AI (Grok) allows users to instantly generate context for any post on the platform.
• YouTube, Meta, and TikTok have adopted Community Notes, shifting fact-checking power from centralized entities to the public.

Leadership Communication and Social Issues

• 71% of the public believes CEOs should be "seen and not heard" regarding social issues, viewing performative statements with cynicism.
• Data indicates 56% of Americans view "DEI" as alienating, yet 56% also admit they do not know what the acronym stands for; employees report only a 16% harm rate from DEI initiatives.
• Americans prefer actions over words; a track record of tangible results matters more than virtual signaling.
• Gen Z (31% of X's user base) values transparency, authenticity, and humor, with X identified as the number one brand capturing their attention.
• X observes that C-suite executives who speak directly and authentically on the platform are celebrated, whereas over-polished PR statements face pushback.
• Michael Dimmick notes that trust is increasingly personal, with individuals often outweighing brands in trust equity.
• Employees generally prioritize alignment of interests and personal growth over broader social values in the workplace.

Forward-Looking Statements and Decisions

• Harris Poll (John Gerzema): Future trust requires brands to stop "flip-flopping" on values and maintain unwavering consistency regardless of political cycles.
• Companies are urged to focus on tangible actions regarding employees and stakeholders rather than performative rhetoric.
• The future of corporate trust relies on recommitting to core values and ensuring those values are aligned with the realities of people's lives.
• X positions itself as a "town square" where real-time, unedited conversations (e.g., the "X election") replace curated media narratives.
• The White House launch of "The White House Wire" is cited as a move toward curated, direct information control, contrasting with the open discourse on X.
• Gen Z's spending power is estimated at $36 trillion by 2030, necessitating that business leaders adopt new filters for engagement that prioritize authenticity over polished history.
• X asserts that the protection of free speech is foundational to democracy and that trust in the platform is a prerequisite for its safety tools.
• Leaders are advised to "keep their head down and do the work," pushing out noise to allow resilience and product quality to build trust organically.