Adelle Keely: Acumen CEO on the growing distrust in public institutions

Trust is eroding over time in our public institutions.  

The Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer reveals 67% of New Zealanders express a sense of grievance with business, media, government and NGOs – surpassing the global average of 61%.  

Many feel overlooked by those in power and disillusioned as a result 

Acumen Chief Executive Adelle Keely says it's a wake-up call for those in charge.  

She says for the past few years, businesses have been the most trusted institution - but this year for the first time, no institutions are trusted at all. 

Keely told Mike Hosking it's a worldwide trend. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Over the past quarter century, Acumen have measured our trust
in business, NGOs, the government, the media. First time, New
Zealand's fallen into the distrust category. Business most trusted of
all the institutions, but it has had the most significant
decline this past year. Our sense of grievance is also
six percent higher than the global average. What's all this mean,
Acumen CEO Adel Kelly's with us adele Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good Morning Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Sixty seven percent of us have expressed a moderate or
high sense of grievances. Is that an extraordinary number. It
strikes me that two thirds of New Zealand is carrying
a grievance is not healthy?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, I think it is. I think when we think
about grievance, it's the sense of things are unfair and
the system is stacked against us. And when we think
about people, that's people's employees, customers, people in the community.
And I think what's really driving this is a lack
of optimism. So the research also shows that only nineteen
percent of New Zealanders thinks the next generation is going

(00:56):
to be better off in five years time. There's also
people navigating mis and disinformation post pandemic, and there's also
a sense that there's a high degree of cynicism in
New Zealand around business and government leaders, whether they are
intentionally misleading us or not.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Does it worry you because it might be other work
I read this week, or it could have been yours,
but this business where we believe that the politicians and
the media actively lie to us. Now, it's one thing
to go yeah, and I don't really trust somebody, but
to accuse somebody of actively lying to you is next level,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
I agree with you, Mike. The research says mislead or exaggerate.
So since we've been doing this research, we know that
New Zealanders do have a healthy cynicism. But I do
think it's a real concern that people aren't trusting our leaders.
What we do see there though, where there's a proximity
and a relationship, So you may not trust CEOs in general,

(01:49):
but you trust my CEO or my employer. That's where
the opportunity lies.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
I think are we an outlier in terms of our
grievance and hate and distrust and all of that.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
No, we're not. Unfortunately, it's a worldwide trend and in fact,
the highest levels the those that feel the highest level
of discrimination are actually white Americans. But I think that
a lot of people will be surprised to see that
level of grievance. AM On New Zealand, we like to
think that we're kind of a more fair and inclusive society.
So it feels like we're in a fork in the

(02:19):
road here. We can see the trajectory and other nations
with the direction of travel where we could be going,
and I think for a lot of us, that's not
where we want to head.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Adele, appreciate your insight very much. Adele Keeley, who's the
acumen CEO of white Americans. That's how you win an election,
of course, that's how it works. COVID changed everything. In
my humble opinion, I thought there was a bubbling, underlying
sort of vibe, and then COVID changed everything and we've
never been the same since.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
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