1、8 Harvard Business Review|June 2009|hbr.orgFrom the Editor|Trust Revisited THE PUBLIC S trust in business leaders has never been weaker.According to the Edel-man Trust Barometer,released in Janu-ary,trust in U.S.business dropped from 58%to 38%in one year.European businesses are in nearly as much tro
2、uble with the public.Businesses in emerging markets are faring bet-ter but not by a lot.If companies can t address this problem,an economic turnaround may be delayed indefi-nitely:Banks won t lend money;innovation will slow to a crawl;trade across borders will fall even more rapidly;governments will
3、 overregulate the private sector;unemployment numbers will continue to rise;and consumers wont open their wallets for anything they consider nonessential.A com-plex modern economy simply cant function unless people believe that its institutions are fundamentally sound.The Spotlight articles in this
4、issue make clear,though,that trust is not a simple concept.Rod Kramer,in“Rethinking Trust,”argues that most of us trust others far too easily.As social animals,we re hardwired to do that.In re-cent years we ve been hoodwinked into trusting people and institutions that were behaving badly,according t
5、o Kramer,a social psychologist who teaches at Stanford.So,while the pundits claim that businesses need to rebuild consumers trust as soon as possible,Kramer demonstrates the opposite:We need to remain skeptical.We must also demand that our institutions be-come more worthy of trust.Joel Podolny s pie
6、ce on business education,“The Buck Stops(and Starts)at Business School,”indicts the schools that train managers and executives.Indeed,in the months since the meltdown began,MBAs have been caricatured as greedy,selfi sh crea-tures.Podolny s argument is subtler than that.(In fact,he fi nds the populis
7、t anti-MBA rage a bit frightening.)His thoughts about how to reinvent business education and thereby regain people s trust were previewed in a lively online conversa-tion he led on our website in April(mba-future.hbr.org);excerpts from that conversation appear on page 106.Podolny,who taught at both
8、Stan-ford and Harvard business schools and served as dean of the Yale School of Management,is now heading up Apple s corporate university.Meanwhile,trust inside organizations is also fal-tering(though less dramatically).James OToole and Warren Bennis who have studied organi-zational behavior for dec
9、ades argue passion-ately that senior managers must build a culture of transparency to repair that problem.It won t hap-pen by itself.Without strong leadership from the top,managers hoard information and fl atter their bosses instead of questioning tired assumptions and speaking truth to power.“What
10、s Needed Next:A Culture of Candor”makes the case that trust within organizations is the bedrock for re-building it in business as a whole.Also of interest in this issue:conversations with economist Paul Krugman(on what surprises him about the fi nancial crisis)and chef Alice Waters(on how to keep a
11、high-end business rel-evant during a downturn).The HBR Case Study looks at whether banks should actually thank the public for bailout money.In addition,we welcome Michael Watkins,the world s leading expert on transitioning into a leadership position,who ana-lyzes Barack Obama s fi rst 90 days in off
12、i ce.And fi nally,“How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy”takes a different perspective on senior management behavior.During tough economic times,executives tend to become more guarded.As they consider how to cut costs without de-stroying future growth,they isolate themselves in conference rooms,tal
13、king only to a few close colleagues.Meanwhile,their employees become hypervigilant,watching for signs of impending doom.Bob Sutton,another Stanford professor,explores this destructive dynamic and describes a better one.If you have time to read just one ar-ticle this month,read this one.Your organiza
14、tion will thank you.Adi Ignatius1220 Jun09 EditorLetter.indd 81220 Jun09 EditorLetter.indd 85/1/09 5:18:36 PM5/1/09 5:18:36 PMSTRATEGIC HUMOR“”12 Harvard Business Review|June 2009|hbr.orgGeorge Abbott,Roy Delgado,and Patrick Hardin“I wanted to get your opinions before I go ahead and do what I want.”
15、“Form a committee?This is a committee!”“I got it!Let s get everyone together,clean up that old building out back,and put on a show!”TogethernessEveryone values a team that,when faced with a challenge,responds with a can-do attitude.Vanessa Urch Druskat and Steven B.Wolff“Building the Emotional Intel
16、ligence of Groups”Harvard Business ReviewMarch 20011220 Jun09 StratHumor.indd 121220 Jun09 StratHumor.indd 125/1/09 5:18:49 PM5/1/09 5:18:49 PM14 Harvard Business Review|June 2009|hbr.orgA survey of ideas,trends,people,and practices on the business horizonMichael ByersGRISTHow Concepts Affect Consumption by Dan Ariely and Michael I.NortonOur prehistoric ancestors spent much of their waking hours foraging for and consuming food,an instinct that obviously paid off.Today this instinct is no less po
