In this short midweek episode, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson unpack the findings of the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, revealing a global crisis of grievance and eroding trust in societal institutions—government, business, media, and NGOs. Key topics include the impact of trust inequality, the rise of hostile activism, and the expectations placed on CEOs to address societal issues.

Neville and Shel explore the challenges and opportunities for businesses and communicators, emphasizing the need for empathetic leadership, authentic dialogue, and community engagement. They also discuss the implications of income disparity, the role of stakeholder capitalism, and how communicators can help foster trust through two-way listening and collaboration.

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Links from this episode:

• Edelman Trust Barometer: Welcome to the Age of Grievance


• 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer


• Economic grievances fuel support for hostile actions, Edelman global survey shows


• Trust in CEOs erodes, new report shows


• We Are on the Precipice of a Grievance-Based Society

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, January 27.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat most Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET. To obtain the credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request them in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this podcast are Shel’s and Neville’s and do not reflect the views of their employers and/or clients.

Raw transcript:

Hi everybody, and welcome to episode number 446 of four immediate release. I’m She Holtz. And I’m Neville. Hobson. We are recording this episode on Monday, the 20th of January, 2025. A memorable day for many in the United States of a public holiday, Martin Luther King Day, but you’ve also got the inauguration of a new president today and Mr.

Donald Trump is coming back for Trump 2.0 his second. Term of office, and it’s kind of, I think, really appropriate that this day is also the day we’re gonna be talking about the latest Edelman Trust Barometer from the Edelman PR firm. This is an annual product. We’ve been reporting on it a lot over the last 25 years, and I actually remember she, I think I was at the first maybe and or the second of these when they were done, 1999 to 2000.

So it’s been with us a long time, but we have reported on this quite significantly. This one though is I think quite different to what we’ve seen [00:01:00 ] before in a number of areas. It’s a weighty volume. We’re not going to attempt to dissect the whole thing in this short form episode. That just isn’t the time to do that or just to do it.

So, we’ll, we’ll come back to it in our monthly. But we’ve got a few things we have to say about this. So we should get on with this. So. It was actually over the weekend at Davos that Aman unveiled the results of this trust parameter. It’s the latest annual report and public sentiment of trust in governments business, the media and NGOs from a survey of 33,000 people in 28 countries carried out last October.

Overall, the picture is a desperate one, I would say, showing that in Edelman’s words, widespread grievance. Eroding trust across the board. Those with a high sense of grievance, distrust all four institutions, business, government, media, and NGOs. We’ll discuss a report on what the survey findings mean for communicators right after this message.[00:02:00 ]

We are living in a time of gre grievance says Edelman, CEO, Richard Edelman, defined by a belief that government and business make our lives harder and serve narrow interests, and that wealthy people benefit unfairly from the system while regular people struggle in this age of grievance, disillusionment with societal institutions, that’s government, business, media, and NGOs is pervasive and widespread around the world.

According to the survey, 61% of respondents have a moderate or high sense of grievance. People around the world feel betrayed by leaders and left behind by societal institutions, government, business, media, and NGOs. The erosion of trust is across the board. None of the four key institutions are trusted universally, all face significant distrust among those with high grievance levels.

Trust inequality, particularly among income groups, exacerbates the issue. In addition, aggrieves people distrust [00:03:00 ] CEOs, as well as innovations like artificial intelligence. For any organization to succeed now and in the years ahead, its leaders cannot ignore grievance. A significant finding is that four in 10 people approve of hostile activism, where radical tactics such as online attacks, disinformation, and even violence, are seen by many as viable ways to address systemic issues.

Hostile activism is most prevalent among respondents aged 18 to 34 with 53% supporting these tactics. Over the last decade, society has devolved from fears to polarization to grievance. As Richard Edelman incumbents in the US, uk, France, Germany, South Korea and Canada were ousted amid voter anger over job losses to globalization and inflation.

He added. We now see a zero sum mindset that legitimizes extreme measures like violence and disinformation as tools for change. Other findings are many. They [00:04:00 ] include globalization, recession, and technology fears. They’re heightened where the percentage of employees who worry about losing their jobs because of these forces has re risen significantly since last year, free of discrimination surges.

Nearly two thirds of respondents worry about experiencing prejudice, discrimination, or racism up 10 points in the last year, and with significant increases across countries and demographics, including among white respondents in the us. CEOs must take action. They have permission to address a societal issue.

When their business contributed to the problem, it harms their stakeholders. They could have a major positive impact or it would improve their business’s performance. As communicators and leaders, we stand at a critical juncture where trust is in free for grievances are deepening, and the potential for societal instability grows.

This is just a high level snapshot, I, I should add, but clearly there’s major concern about the state of trust and what to do about it. This crisis of grievance surely is [00:05:00 ] a moment for decisive, empathetic leadership, grounded in action and authenticity shall. It seems that trust is declining precipitously, as you mentioned, it’s across all four institutions.

Mm. A couple glimmers of hope, at least for communicators working in business. First business is still the most trusted institution and the only one above water among the four institutions business. Has the highest trust level at 62%, and it’s viewed both as competent and ethical, but still eroding.

It’s not as high as it has been in previous surveys. Another glimmer of hope is that despite trust challenges, CEOs are expected to address societal issues. So there is an expectation that business is going to do something about this. So I, I think communicators need to take this to heart and use it as at least to inform strategies for communication.

[00:06:00 ] And, and this would be both internal and external. I think we need to think about what the role of businesses in societal change, and I, I don’t, I, I, I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but I know that here in the US businesses retreating from the idea of societal change. Right now with the Trump administration taking power today they are retreating from DEI, for example.

And yet that is one of the things, that a lot of people are looking for and feeling that they’re not getting because of that divide largely between rich and poor. So and, and that’s one that just confounds me here in the US because of, of all of the outpouring of support from business and from large sector of the population for the Trump administration, and yet the people who are going to be leading that administration have a net worth.

It is larger than the gross domestic. Product of most of the countries in the world. Hmm. And so you’re being led by the ultra rich. Some people are already calling it an oligarchy, and yet [00:07:00 ]