The Death and Life of Trust

HAVE PEOPLE BEEN NOTICING AN INCREASING amount of commentary on the importance of cities in these past few months?  I hope so, because it represents an emerging wave of frustration that has been building up in recent years concerning the growing lack of investment in everything from infrastructure to economic development.  The Globe and Mail recently published an entire section on the subject and research writers are putting more urgency into their observations of how those places in which we live are being placed in difficult situations in everything from immigration to investment in the next generation.  It’s only right that this debate should be occurring on the heels of our greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Everything has been about what cities lack, and along the way the trust that had been in place for decades has been quickly eroding, leading to a kind of “victim” mentality that has caused communities to increasingly place the blame for their present predicament somewhere else.The Edelman Trust Barometer is a globally recognized authority on the issue of trust itself and how it’s faring around the world.  In its 2014 report, it singles out Canada as a country where our belief and trust in our leaders is falling precipitously.  For example, trust in government for Canadians has fallen seven percentage points among informed Canadians, as opposed to four points worldwide.  As one might expect, our citizens trust government the last among all our institutions, with business and media not far behind.Here are some other interesting findings.  Non-governmental organizations remain the most trusted institution collectively in the country (65%).  Technology is the most trusted industry in Canada (74%), and family-owned and small-to-medium-sized businesses are most trusted at 85% and 75% respectively.The important point is that declining faith in the larger institutions – corporations, governments, media – is being balanced by a Canadian willingness to trust those smaller institutions that appear to have a more human face.  This is fairly normal.  Whenever society goes through a time of transformation, the larger institutions are often the last ones to sense the problem, and then to fix it.  Citizens are no longer looking to the elites of the World Economic Forum in Davos to solve difficulties; instead, they are hunkering down in community engagement sessions and seeing if there is some way they can build some local innovations instead.  It’s all very exciting, although confusingly fragmented.All of this will require creative leadership, not merely the authoritative kind.  Most leaders of larger institutions still don’t get that reality.  Because they are the heads of massive organizations, they believe the sheer residual weight of such behemoths will naturally cause others to march in step behind.  But that’s not what’s happening.  Instead, citizens view such vast entities like ocean liners that take forever to slow down in order to reverse course.  The best leaders understand this seismic shift and know that if trust is ever to become a national pastime once more, then it will have to be repaired and expanded in those areas closest to peoples' hearts and interests.It’s really all about empathy: that ability to instinctively sense that there are bigger things than just our individuals selves that we can impact, be a part of, and ultimately shape.  That’s pretty tough to feel about a global economy or a partisan government.  Our cities, neighbourhoods, and fellow citizens are closer at hand, however, and the feeling we can alter our surroundings carries more weight the closer it comes to us.We require qualified leaders everywhere in times of change, but those who might well see the most change are those who creatively lead outside of the conventional systems.  They call us to community again and, unlike so many of our present political representatives, are willing to go toe-to-toe even with their own leaders if our communities are being denied by the larger powers. Trusting is hard; knowing who to trust is even more difficult.  But for us to build ourselves up into a trusting and respectful society, we must seek out, call, and support those who could lead us in those most basic of emotions that every community requires – honour, trust, faithfulness, healthy debate, and shared commonality.  Such people are among us.  The secret is to stop feeling targeted by the larger powers and to start building our own models of interconnected and trustful humanity.