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Let me ask you this question… what do you think is the biggest threat to the future of organisational trust? I’m working my way through reading the 3.5kg 3 volume final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry… I know… get a life, right?

One of the real negatives emerging from the fallout of corporate breaches of stakeholder trust is an increase in micro-management. In the disruptive world leaders now find themselves, compliance, process and procedure become the mainstay strategic and operational reality.

In the light of what seems to be a continuous and global stream of corporate breaches of customer trust, without naming the obvious, marketing and public relations divisions within major corporations are working frantically on ways to rebuild trust… but they might be neglecting the most important element.

AMP’s announcement yesterday of a 97 per cent fall in annual profits from the previous year, sends a loud and clear message to corporate Australia’s leadership: Breaching customer trust costs and costs big time. But there’s more at stake here than the whopping 97 percent loss in profits.

I can’t believe the number of people who I’ve been chatting with recently, both professionally and personally, who are saying they can’t believe how fast this year is flying by already. Seriously… what did happen to January?

How are you? It’s a question here in Australia we ask and are asked often. In fact, we’re asked it so regularly that our responses are often simply an automatic response.

I have been reflecting on my 2018 and projecting on my 2019. It’s good to know that Bill Gates is doing the same.

In a 60 Minutes interview with Peter Overton, Tom Cruise famously said to Overton “Put your manners back in”. At yesterdays’ Royal Commission, CBA chief Matt Comyn reflected on a ‘robust discussion’ he had with his predecessor, Ian Narev, on the practice of selling certain insurance policies to people ineligible to make a claim. Comyn revealed Narev’s response was to “temper your sense of justice”.

The Royal Commission into Banking and Finance, another announced for the Aged Care Sector and this week, and a call for another Royal Commission into the Supermarket and Petrol Station sectors, continue to send loud and clear messages about the level of distrust we have in some major institutions and industry sectors.

Your credibility is the perception that others form about the level of trust they can place in you to deliver on your promises in a specific area.