Is the "Golden Rule" of public relations actually making us worse at our jobs?

In this episode of The Wag The Dog Podcast, we deconstruct the industry’s obsession with "building trust" and explore why it is often the wrong goal for modern crisis management. Based on the viral newsletter issue by Philippe Borremans, we dive deep into the science of why trust is not a mechanical switch you can flip with a press release.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Flawed Logic of Trust: Why research by Engdahl & Lidskog proves you can’t "logic" stakeholders into trusting you.
• The Sandman Formula: A breakdown of Peter Sandman’s Risk = Hazard + Outrage and why Trust is only 1/12th of the solution.
• The Knife Metaphor: A powerful visualization of why Control matters more than trust in a crisis.
• The "Dark Side" of Trust: Why excessive institutional trust led to disasters like Enron and the 2008 financial crash.
• Cultural Blind Spots: How Western "transparency" strategies can backfire in collectivist cultures (featuring research on Japan by Katharina Barkley).
• The New 2025 Framework: What to build instead—focusing on Credibility, Legitimacy, and Procedural Fairness.

If you are a communication professional, PR strategist, or emergency manager, this episode will challenge your assumptions and provide a more effective roadmap for navigating outrage.

Key Resources Mentioned:

• Peter Sandman’s "Outrage Factors"
• The "Information Deficit Model"
• Research by Neal, Shockley, and Schilke on Institutional Trust

Subscribe to the Newsletter: Get the full article, citations, and weekly insights on the future of risk and crisis communication at www.wagthedog.io.