"Lost trust? A lost future!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Let's talk about trust - or rather, the lack of it.
Somewhere along the way, I came across the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer 2025 - it's worth a look.
The fact is, it's a pretty depressing read! They call it a crisis of grievance. As I've been saying - that tracks.
What are the findings? 3 key facts.
Fact 1: Majority hold grievances against government, business, and the rich
Sixty-one percent globally have a moderate or high sense of grievance, which is defined by a belief that government and business make their lives harder and serve narrow interests, and wealthy people benefit unfairly from the system.
Fact 2: Widespread grievance is eroding trust across the board
Those with a high sense of grievance distrust all four institutions (business, government, media, and NGOs).
Fact 3: Hostile activism is seen as a legitimate tool to drive change
To bring about change, 4 in 10 would approve of one or more of the following forms of hostile activism: attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence, damaging public or private property. This sentiment is most prevalent among respondents ages 18-34 (53 percent approve of at least one).
The report makes plain that over a decade of crises have helped to fuel this crisis of grievance.
So where does it leave us? We are witnessing nothing short of a societal transformation – one driven by a profound crisis of grievance that threatens to reshape our institutions, our economy, and our very future! And we all know we are living through this in real-time, since we know that a mindset of grievance is driving a lot of the change swirling around us right now.
What can we conclude? Several things:
- Zero-Sum actions dominate. The report indicates that this grievance mindset has created a dangerous zero-sum game mentality – the belief that someone else's gain must come at your expense. This is fracturing our social cohesion in real time! It leads to little in the way of cooperative efforts, and a lot of 'I'm in it for me" actions.
- Institutional trust disappears: The Trust Index – measuring average trust across business, government, media, and NGOs – reveals a continued decline in trust across the board. That said, business remains the most trusted institution, but that leadership position is precarious as trust in business leaders erodes, especially among the aggrieved. Government and media have fallen into distrust territory in most surveyed countries – a red flag for democratic stability! Yup.
- Economic and job insecurity dominates: The acceleration of globalization, economic pressures, and technological change are creating unprecedented job insecurity! Employees are rightfully concerned about international trade conflicts, foreign competition, offshoring, automation, and inadequate training for the jobs of tomorrow. These aren't abstract concerns – they're kitchen-table realities driving the trust crisis!
- Discrimination accelerates: We're witnessing a dramatic surge in fear of discrimination, reaching all-time highs across demographics! This trend will fundamentally reshape workplace dynamics, consumer behavior, and social cohesion in the coming years.
- Wealth inequality grows: The perception gap has reached a tipping point! A clear majority of people are convinced the wealthy aren't paying their fair share of taxes, and that their selfishness is directly responsible for many societal problems. This isn't just class resentment – it's a fundamental challenge to our economic model!
- Business expectations: increase The business demands are escalating exponentially! Organizations are expected to take decisive action on affordability, climate change, worker retraining, misinformation, and discrimination. These aren't optional initiatives but survival imperatives for forward-thinking organizations!
The thing is - when you read this list, you realize that many businesses and government organizations are doing very little to try to respond to these issues and regain trust. We've seen a pullback by corporate groups with DEI; an abandonment of climate change policies; recessionary thinking leading to a likelihood of an increasing number of layoffs; a tax cut that will benefit billionaires, not the poor; and so much more.
All of this goes completely against the grain of what people indicate in the survey might lead them out of their state of grievance. In that context, what is chilling with all this is that the rise of hostile activism is seen as an accepted change mechanism. A notable percentage see this as viable – signaling a profound shift in how societal transformation will occur in the coming decade. Traditional channels for change are being bypassed! Don't believe me? Look up #TeslaTakedown on social media. It seems people are pissed and in the absence of any ability to effect change, take matters into their own hands.
We're at a turning point, and I suspect that many organizations won't understand and address how these trust imperatives will shape the next decade. We are seeing the early results of that right now.
I think there's a real opportunity here. Business leaders can make positive changes by simply doing what's right - creating good local jobs with fair pay, helping people build skills, and encouraging open conversations at work. When leaders take time to understand what employees, customers and communities actually care about, they can find shared goals that build trust and create a more positive economic outlook. This approach focused on people's real needs helps leaders earn respect through making tangible improvements in people's lives, rather than just expecting respect because of their job titles.
It remains to be seen how many might take up this actual challenge.
Bottom line? You know what I'm going to say - the future belongs to those who build trust in an age of grievance!