The TrustCast: An Edelman Podcast

Thank you to all of The TrustCast listeners for tuning into a year of trustworthy conversations. In the New Year, we are relaunching under a new name: The TrustMakers, an Edelman podcast in partnership with Advertising Week. You can find us at https://advertisingweek.com/podcast-thetrustmakers/ or by searching "The TrustMakers" wherever you listen to podcasts. Be sure to check out the first episode on January 7, and in the meantime, we wish you a happy holiday season!

In recent weeks, we have explored the growing expectations for business leaders to take a more ambitious, vocal role in society in the context of employee engagement. This week, we dig deeper on this topic by zeroing in on businesses’ most important stakeholder – the employee. Caroline Atherton, Chief Talent Officer at HPE, speaks with Alissa Schepisi, Edelman EVP and Employee Experience Practice Group Head, about the changing employee value proposition, new talent attraction and retention strategies, and how to better engage your employees in 2022.

This past year has brought new investor expectations on ESG, climate change, shareholder activism, and more. To further understand this, Edelman released new research about the issues that are shaping global investment criteria and the ways in which companies can build trust with the investment community. This week, Lex Suvanto, Managing Partner & CEO of Edelman Financial Communications and John Hoeppner, Head of U.S. Stewardship and Sustainable Investments at Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. discuss our latest research, the need for companies to make ambitious commitments, and company culture.

The employee-employer relationship has evolved in many news ways. To further understand this dynamic, Edelman’s Employee Experience team released new research that dives into the new role of the belief-driven employee and their expectations on business. To discuss this, Alissa Schepisi, EVP and our Employee Experience Practice Group Head and Jeaneen Andrews-Feldman, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at SHRM talk employee incentives, workplace activism and the future of work.

In this week’s episode, we hear from Steve Rubel, our Chief Media Ecologist and Lulu Cheng Meservey, Vice President of Communications at Substack, about about Substack as a platform and the various roles it plays for publishers, readers and creatives alike.

In this week’s episode, Dr. Claire Boogaard, an affiliate faculty member of the Child Health Advocacy Institute and a clinical pediatrician at the Children’s National Children’s Health Center at THEARC joins Kevin Johnson, VP on our Washington, D.C. Crisis & Risk practice to discuss how the Delta variant is impacting children and families, especially as students return to the classroom.

The day-to-day responsibilities for corporate communicators have changed drastically over the last few years as those occupying the role move from a functional to strategic partner, a shift that has only been accelerated by the pandemic. This week, Jim O’Leary, U.S. Chief Operating Officer & Corporate Affairs Practice Chair, and Gary Sheffer, Professor of Public Relations at Boston University, talk about Edelman’s new report “The Future of Corporate Communications” and how societal issues and the stakeholder economy are changing the communications agenda.

We’re kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month by unpacking the topics and trends that are really driving Hispanic culture and identity in 2021 and beyond. This week, Yocasta Shames, Senior Vice President of our Brand and Multicultural Communications practice talks with Thatiana Diaz, Editor in Chief of Remezcla about the different identities within the Latinx community, how brands can grow their Latinx audience, and how everyone can connect with Hispanic Heritage Month.

This week, we’re revisiting an important conversation on the racism that faces communities of color within America’s financial system. Some of the discriminatory dynamics may not be surprising, but we must still work to eradicate their long-term impacts on financial outcomes. Edelman’s EVP and Head of Multicultural Communications Jackeline Stewart talks with Raymone Jackson, Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at T. Rowe Price, about ways to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging within the financial services industry.

Reliable information is increasingly hard to come by as disinformation finds new platforms and users to support its spread. Not only does this impact how we move forward as a society, but it also affects brand safety. This week, Patrick Hillman, Global Head of Innovation for our Crisis & Risk practice and Caitlin Rush, Global Head of Brandy Safety Strategy at Twitter, discuss the mediums and topics most prone to disinformation and what brands can do to proactively combat these threats.

While America has taken steps toward progress, racism and discrimination continue to exist in America’s financial system. To further understand this issue, Edelman’s Financial Services team released new research that unpacks the fraught relationship between financial services institutions and communities of color. This week, Jonathon Jordan, General Manager of our Southern California office and Brad Smith, Anchor at Cheddar News discuss the deep historical context of this issue, persisting systemic inequities, and examples of failed customer experiences as well as solutions to improve this dynamic.

In this week’s episode, we hear from LeMia Jenkins, Global Head of Communications at Pinterest about the emerging trends and surprising shifts she’s seeing in today’s communications landscape. Kate Meissner, our U.S. Head of External Affairs, talks with LeMia about Pinterest’s move from embodying brand love to embodying brand trust, its cultural relevance, and its evolving role as a platform.

Following the convergence of several global crises over the last year—the pandemic, widespread economic downturns, financial and health inequities and a national reckoning on racial justice—we’ve seen brands that step up to address the major societal challenges we face receive a giant boost in trust, advocacy, and purchase-intent in return. The reality is, highly trusted brands are seven times more likely to be purchased. Why? Because for the first time ever brand trust matters more than brand love. Trust is the new brand equity. This week, Lee Maicon, our Global Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer and Tariq Hassan, CMO of Petco discuss building brand trust, multi-stakeholder engagement and Petco’s transformation to a health and wellness company.

Over the last twelve months, the financial markets saw record IPO and SPAC activity and widespread excitement for companies going public. To further understand this surge, Edelman’s Financial Communications team released new research about the evolving investor expectations for new issuers. This week, Margot Edelman, GM of our Bay Area hub and Steven Solomon, Professor of Law at UC Berkeley and former N.Y. Times “Deal Professor” discuss our latest research, investor perceptions and what’s next for SPACs and IPOs.

Over the past year, we’ve seen a large number of statements and pledges made by brands and companies around diversity, equity and inclusion --both in their work and through the talent represented in their company. But while the commitments were sincere, data actually shows that the percentage of Black people in leadership positions fall around the 4% mark -- across enterprises as diverse as the Fortune 100 and the U.S. Congress. This week, our U.S. CEO, Lisa Osborne Ross talks to Jamal Simmons, CBS News Political Contributor about “The 4% Problem.”

Youth empowerment. This is something that shows through in several ways – empowering our youth to try new things, progress academically, speak up on important issues, and so much more. Youth empowerment is also a passion of this week’s guest, Artis Stevens, CEO & President of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Artis joins Jonathon Jordan, General Manager of our Southern California office to talk about their similar upbringing, as well as racial injustice and how it’s impacting our youth and what needs to change in order for our society to progress.

You may think of empathy as a useful behavior in navigating your personal life -- but research shows it's also a leadership superpower when practiced in the workplace. This week, Cydney Roach, Global Chair of our Employee Experience practice speaks with Dr. Jamil Zaki, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and author of “The War for Kindness: Building Empathy       in a Fractured World.” Cydney and Jamil talk about the definition of empathy, what an empathic leader looks like in the workplace, and their recently launched eBook, “Leading with Empathy in Turbulent Times: A Practical Guide.”

In the PR/comms industry, we counsel clients on how to incorporate DE&I into their ever day practices. But, following our own advice from our recent Trust Barometer of, “getting your own house in order” is something we dive into in this week’s episode. Lisa Osborne Ross, our U.S. CEO, talks with Paul Holmes, Founder and Chair of Provoke Media (formerly known as The Holmes Report), about unconscious bias, workforce diversity and what DE&I in communications will look like in the future.

Stakeholder capitalism is a framework that has been long followed by various companies, but the adoption of putting stakeholders first – instead of shareholders – has been accelerated due to the combination of COVID-19 and the social unrest across the country, and even around the globe. More and more companies are following this framework and there are many ways in which they are doing it. This week, Lisa Osborne Ross, our newly appointed U.S. CEO, talks with Dalila Wilson-Scott, EVP and CDO at Comcast Corporation and President of Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation about the evolution of stakeholder capitalism and how to make it sustainable.

Everyone’s talking about it. Many people want it. And some people don’t trust it. That’s right, we’re talking vaccines. The pandemic laid bare historic disparities that forced institutions to confront a legacy of systemic racism. Most recently, “vaccine hesitancy” has dominated headlines, again putting Black and Latinx communities at the center of the conversation on trust, equity, and health. This week, Jackeline Stewart, U.S. head of multicultural communications, talks with Dr. Uché Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity about vaccine participation, social determinants, and how organizations need to be intentional about where they’re putting their resources.

Pandemic recovery is something that has been on all our minds for a while now, especially for brands. As the vaccine rollout continues to progress, we’re seeing a brighter light at the end of the tunnel and a slight return to normalcy. This week, Michele Anderson, our U.S. head of brand, talks with Callie Schweitzer, senior editor of marketing at LinkedIn News about the changing role of the CMO, brand authenticity, and the sectors that are doing well right now.

The pandemic has put the future of cities at risk – those who could afford it left cities en masse, creating an economic depression for those left behind. And as more companies allow remote work and many shun “vertical living,” what comes next for America’s cities? This week, Andrea Hagelgans, our Managing Director of NY Corporate & Public Affairs, hosts Mayor Steve Fulop of Jersey City to talk about the impact the pandemic and bottoming trust in government have had on cities.

Racial and economic equity remains at the forefront of so many aspects of our lives, from the COVID-19 vaccine and the media, to brands and corporations. This week, Lisa and Jackeline unpack some of these topics and talk about what business is doing, and what needs to be done to ensure they are actually creating equity and not just talking about it.

New Trust data from our Tech cut of the Trust Barometer reveals that trust in technology has reached an all-time low in 17 of the 22 countries we track. Some estimate that the COVID-19 pandemic has condensed 10 years of digital transformation into a single year. While technology has helped people and businesses manage through these historic times, the acceleration of AI and machine learning create social challenges for business to navigate. This week we welcome Amy Webb, futurist, author, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute and Professor of Strategic Foresight at NYU. Amy speaks with Edelman’s Tech lead for the East Coast, Anna Sekaran, about responsible technology and the synthetic decade.

Disinformation was one of the most prominent themes we discovered in this year’s Trust Barometer report. The historic erosion of trust with the general public and some of society’s most important institutions has created a credibility vacuum – that vacuum is rapidly being filled by a variety of individuals and organizations claiming to offer more reliable information, from social media influencers to start-up news sites to fringe platforms. Our guest this week is Jennifer Kavanagh, Director and Senior Political Scientist at RAND and leader of the organization's Truth Decay Initiative, hosted by Patrick Hillman, an EVP in Edelman’s Crisis & Risk practice. They discuss what disinformation looks like, the associated risk factors, and what the roles are for the public and private sector.

The COVID-19 pandemic has rewritten the social contract between businesses and employees. Businesses have a new mandate to lead and must do so by responding to shifting employee priorities. In this pandemic, what people have lost most is time, so one of the single most important actions any employer can take for their overburdened workforces is to honor, value and protect their employees’ time. This week, Felicia Joy, Founder and Group Head of Edelman’s Applied Behavioral Science practice, and Elena Grotto, Executive Vice President of Edelman’s Chicago Business Transformation team speak with Ashley Whillans, Harvard Business School professor and author of Time Smart. Felicia, Elena and Ashley discuss how we can build a trusted workplace by being more “time smart” in our personal and professional lives.

Over the past year, there have been greater expectations on CEOs when it comes to taking the lead on societal issues, communicating effectively, and largely filling the void people feel when it comes to the government. What do people expect from CEOs, and as a result, what role does the CEO have today? This week, Edelman’s CEO, Richard Edelman, speaks with Felix Salmon, Chief Financial Correspondent at Axios about good CEOs, information bankruptcy, return to work, and the “no go zone” of where CEOs should be.

The COVID-19 vaccine is top of mind for everyone right now – some people are jumping at the chance to receive it, and others are more hesitant. What can institutions do to instill greater confidence in those who are hesitant to receive the vaccine? And broadly, why is this so important? This week, Edelman’s U.S. Health Chair, Courtney Gray Haupt, speaks with Laura Helmuth, Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American about vaccine confidence, misinformation, and the roles of business, government, and the media.

Following the 2020 election cycle, we found dramatic differences in where Trust shows up across the aisle. That’s reflective of a broader trend we’ve seen throughout the past four years: Hyper partisanship, or the notion that the far right and the far left are growing further apart. This week, Edelman’s U.S. COO, Lisa Osborne Ross speaks with Kevin Madden, former political strategist for the Republican party and current EVP of Advocacy at Arnold Ventures, about the “shot clock” mentality of news, the “quarantine effect” of how we process information, and his thoughts on presidential campaigns, then and now.

Our 2021 Trust Barometer report shows that trust in government and media are at an all-time low. With the recent riots and storming of the Capitol, a presidential impeachment, and a Biden/Harris administration, there’s a lot to be said about the role trust plays in political messaging – and what we hope to see in the next 100 days. This week, Edelman’s U.S. COO, Lisa Osborne Ross, speaks with Democratic strategist Tara McGowan about what government and media need to do to rebuild trust and avoid disinformation.

Welcome to The TrustCast, An Edelman Podcast. For the past 20 years, we've been studying trust, and how businesses, brands, governments, NGOs and the media build and maintain trust. We've always believed that trust is the ultimate currency in relationships.

But in this current environment, it's a tough sell. We're living through a period where trust has dropped like, well, a rock. But what's happening, and how did we get there?

That's why we're excited to launch The TrustCast, a weekly half hour show where we'll speak to executives, researchers, elected officials and media luminaries to discuss the void of trust that we are living through and how we're going to  get through this.

So please subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and look for our first episode, dropping January 29th.