My trustometer - who do we trust?

27,000 thought leaders and professionals were asked who they trusted and why? So I asked myself, who do I trust and why, to see if my very personal findings from these ten, chimed with Edelman's findings?

• Martin the milkman - always tells you what's going on and lives for his job. So much so, he bought the business. Totally enthusiastic about life and his customers.
• My mum - mothers are a time capsule of everything you are, what's not to trust about that?
• The Guardian, I believe it supports the underdog.
• Fairtrade - 'our global village shop' run by low-paid farmers supplying local produce.
• John Lewis - you know they respect their relationship with you.
• Wikipedia - written by people like you and me.
• The BBC - despite recent leadership issues and cover-ups, time and again they step up to the mark.
• Sir David Attenborough - what will we do when 'his show' is retired?
• HRH Prince of Wales - has put his money where his mouth is and believes in inspiring the next generation to care about our planet, people and wildlife.
• My local pub, The Old Swan - full of local goodness.

Of my personal list three are media, four are kind-of retail brands and three are people. Ok, so no government ministers.

Each of these reflects aspects of the Edelman findings including:

• Showing their own quality (high quality products, for the most part, remain an important trust driver)
• Family feel - they are like you and me (62% said their most trusted source was a person ‘like yourself')
• Active and participate in "my community" (80% said 'engagement' and 'integrity' were trust builders)
• And most of all they listen and respond - actions that were ranked highest (82%) included communicating clearly and transparently And 59% of people stated listening to customers would improve things.

If businesses and government could do more of this they would no doubt close the 'trust gap'. 79% said businesses have permission to play a role in regulation and debate (but should consult with stakeholders like NGOs). NGOs still bring their own set of thinking that, in my view, can never be 'own labelled'. Fortunately, NGOS have retained their crown as the most trusted organisations.  

But only just.

Read more from Giles in our Clubhouse.