Public trust in corporations has suffered a setback over the past few years! While I am rarely accused of understating anything, this time I understated.  I believe it is safe to say that many  of us have become fatigued and cynical as we learn more about the causes of the global economic crises.  We ask ourselves why no one was able to see the troubles brewing long before the explosion. We are all hearing,if not calling for, a renewed commitment to transparency.   

The context within which our companies function is indeed complex.  All businesses have many stakeholders including customers, community, suppliers, stockholders and employees.  How do we create trust within our far-flung stakeholder community?  I believe that the key to rebuilding trust is to provide our stakeholders with a wide array of information about our business, our strategies, our operations, our values, and how we hold ourselves accountable.  And we must engage our stakeholders in a two-way conversation. 

I wrote a chapter for the Harvard Business School eBook, The Landscape of Integrated Reporting.  The essence of the chapter is that we can use our corporate reporting processes to become better stewards of our resources - both financial and nonfinancial.  And in order to engage in better, more integrated reporting, we have to manage our companies differently and better.  Sound reporting must be based on sound management.  My chapter, Building Trust in the Collaborative Community , outlines how business leaders can rebuild trust with stakeholders.