Boards and the trust agenda

WHILE the new year brings with it new concerns, priorities and strategies, there is one item from the previous year that I'm sure business leaders will continue to have on their plates in 2024: stakeholder trust. As the core of all human relationships, trust — building and maintaining it — is an ongoing concern for organizations invested in long-term viability and success.

As a critical agenda item, managing stakeholder trust is often the responsibility of the CEO. In a Deloitte survey of board directors and C-suite executives across 30 countries, 82 percent of respondents said the CEO was ultimately responsible for trust leadership in their companies. He/she is uniquely positioned to set the tone and outline clear expectations from the leadership team when it comes to managing and enhancing trust. But it is not a job for one person to handle. In fact, a bigger share of respondents — 95 percent — believe the board should play a key part in building and protecting stakeholder trust.