Last week an acquaintance reported on the ten biggest reputation disasters of 2014- City of Ferguson, Flight MH370, Ray Rice, Bill Cosby and so on….
The focus remains on the negative under the premise that “bad news sells.” I'm tired of these stories. They serve no purpose other than to attract “eyeballs” and perpetuate negativity. I hope you feel the same way.
Not all is gloom and doom. When I launched Trust Across America-Trust Around the World more than five years ago, one of our objectives was to redirect attention to the “good guys.” There are plenty of them, but their stories continue to get hidden in the bad news. The list below is not about philanthropy or CSR. It's about trustworthy leadership values and their impact on all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
These are….
The “Top Ten” CEO “Trust” Stories of 2014 (not necessarily in rank order)
#1 David Reiling, CEO at Sunrise banks Answers the Toughest Questions about What Makes a Trustworthy Leader in our new magazine TRUST!
#2 Starbucks (SBUX) Howard Schultz “Comes Out” on Building Trust, and Why it May Decide the Future of their Organization… and a bit more detail here
#3 Nancy Lyons of Clockwork in Minneapolis Redefines Employee Engagement
#4 Elon Musk at Tesla (TSLA) Shares His Patent Secrets with His Competitors. Read why.
#5 Capital One's (COF) Richard Fairbank Has a People Centered Vision. His company also made our Top 10 Most Trustworthy Company List for 2013.
#6 Trader Joe's Employees Dance in the Aisles for Autism.
#7 Herve Humler Announces Ritz Carlton (MAR) as First Founding Partner at Impact 2030.
#8 Marathon Call at Zappos (AMZN) Shows the Value Tony Hsieh Places on Customer Service.
#9 Rick Holley CEO of Plum Creek Timber (PCL) Gives Back Bonus, Says He Doesn't Deserve it.