Chief executives don’t get much sympathy, but it is startling to think how broad their jobs have become. I don’t envy their responsibilities. In reading the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, innovation is teetering on the edge of becoming a wedge issue. Respondents distribute blame, but expectations of CEOs are clear and if they press forward without heeding the risks, a fault line today could quickly become a chasm.
By no means is the picture uniform. People feel differently about innovation: The Edelman Trust Barometer finds differences of opinion about the willingness to adopt innovations including AI, gene-based medicine, GMOs and green energy. But that variance is not trivial for business leaders. It should tell you that your enthusiasm for building things for people to buy may be a little out of whack with what they want from you – or at least how you are going about it today. It might appeal to plow forward with your P/E ratio front of mind, but if your innovation pipeline isn’t calibrated against clear measures of whether and why people may resist, problems lie ahead.
We believe this innovation fault line is more concerning because of underlying geopolitical uncertainty. Ian Bremmer, the political scientist, author and expert on geopolitical risk, wrote in January about 2024:
The innovation fault line exacerbates this anxiety. We are worried about global issues, and we are doubtful about whether leaders can competently do what humankind has for thousands of years, which is to imagine and create new technologies to pursue new opportunities or to get us out of the troubles we discover as our species advances. Not a good mix. Chief executives should be acutely aware of this sentiment because business is the most trusted institution with introducing new technologies and innovations into society.
In the spirit of action, here are seven things for business leaders to consider – in ascending order of effort and impact. Think of them as prompts to map or mitigate fault lines that could affect your future – and ours.
Remarkably, today information integrity strategies do not generally exist, but faith in your industry, in your company, in your innovations – and in you – depends on having a clear plan. When perception of your competence, ethics or transparency inevitably falters, you will need to make clear, fact-based decisions. An information integrity strategy will help you not only monitor issues that may destabilize your company, you can also help to make sure that you are not part of making the innovation fault line a chasm.
To close, a quote for those tempted to observe how trust in innovation plays out from the sidelines. Epictetus was an ancient stoic philosopher. He didn’t write texts but is thought to have said,
“Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own.”
Trust is ours to steward and rebuild.
Alex Thompson is global chair of Edelman’s corporate affairs and impact practices. He is the former chief communications officer for Thomson Reuters and previously led brand stewardship & impact for Recreational Equipment, Inc., including government affairs, communications, sustainability, local marketing and philanthropy.