Welcome to the second in the series of The Trust Delusion podcasts. The project, running across 2020, explores how businesses can earn trust authentically and legitimately; busting many myths (and exposing some dodgy data) along the way. Added context, poignancy and urgency is provided by the COVID-19 crisis and the tumultuous impact on business, politics and personal lives.

In this episode, hosted by award-winning journalist and Jericho Partner, Matthew Gwyther, listen to:

• Bestselling author, Margaret Heffernan, who blazed a trail with her books Wilful Blindness and, more recently, Uncharted: How to Map the Future Together – with its prescient insights into pandemics and crisis preparedness – with a cry for competence as a cornerstone of trust:

"I would much rather be operated on by a competent heart surgeon, than one who is good at marketing."

• Costcutter Supermarkets Group Chief Executive, Darcy Wilson-Rymer, whose national grocery chain of over 2,000 shops is on the retail frontline of the Coronavirus pandemic

"We don’t know where the chips are going to fall post-crisis but when they do fall business is very good at picking it up, finding the opportunity and running with it - and that will effectively create a new normal for trust."

• Jane McCormick, Global Head of Tax & Legal Services at KPMG – where auditors, accountants and advisors have been in the bullseye of the trust storm in recent years

"We’re now seeing a lot more collaboration between groups – this isn’t government vs. business. It’s government with business and civil society working together. Groups that have been somewhat polarised having a shared purpose and coming together".

• Professor Veronica Hope-Hailey, University of Bath and former Dean of the School of Management, one of the world’s foremost authorities on trust data and trustworthy behaviour – why honesty must trump hyperbole, from business leaders living in “the la la land of always sunny uplands."

“Leadership has become a scripted performance art, poorly excused by an obsession with increasing returns and shareholder value”

You can read more about The Trust Delusion project here. Tune-in to the first episode in the series. And catch-up on Jericho’s thinking on the Holy Trinity of Trust, Purpose and Engagement.

If you would like to find out more and/ or work with Jericho, please get in touch.