Trust is not a destination!

The purpose of this thought peice is to bring together strategic thinking on data, governance and trust values into one argument. The recommendation is that boards need to wake up

There are two existing models of trust that are relevant to business. Let’s call them “experience trust” and “emotional trust.” We are going to explore two new models of trust, explain why they are so disruptive and create a strawman as a way of thinking about the way forward.

Experience trust is simple to grasp. Think about using your bank card, pushing the brake pedal in a car, getting on a plane, charging your phone, posting a picture on Facebook, using a vape pipe, drinking water, taking a taxi, texting, etc. Every time you do something the ‘experience’ functions, within reason, as you expect it to. Expected feedback loops reinforce a message that whatever you use can be trusted. Society depends on experience trust. It makes life simple and convenient. As the old advert goes; “it does what is says on the tin.” Virtually every brand and every company has close to 100% experience trust, as without it there are unlikely to be new let alone repeat customers. Rules, regulations and standards make the services repeatable anywhere at any time from any provider, essentially experience trust makes usage and choice easy.

Emotional trust is more subtle. “Do I believe that the company I am about to use has my best interests at heart?” Your bank can make the payment (‘experience trust’ — I know the payment will happen as promised), but that is not the same as trusting the bank to sell the best products, service or advice or as a long standing customer to reward you for loyalty in the way providers bend over backwards to entice and reward new customers. Whilst there are always a few exceptions; the reality is that pharma, government, the church, charities, banks, social media, medical, insurance, CPE, retail, gaming, media and auto have eroded our natural goodwill, our emotional trust. As consumers we feel that “brands don’t have our best interests at heart”. Yes, you can use any service and trust it will do what you want (the joy of regulation and standards) but we have generally lost faith in companies purpose, ethics, morals and integrity. To hide this stark reality many of the world’s biggest brands spend vast sums in marketing and branding to keep consumers focused on the utility of the experience as…