Losing Faith in Traditional Ideas, Americans Put Increasingly Unrealistic Expectations on Their CEO

The traditional values associated with Americans are rapidly eroding. Recent polling by the University of Chicago found that Americans, especially younger ones, are caring less about community, religion, and the country at rapid rates, with only money increasing. This situation is raising expectations on CEOs who Americans now trust more than traditional institutions like the government, military, and media according to Edleman’s Trust Barometer.

The report found that 61% of people surveyed expressed trust in businesses — significantly higher than the number who trusted governments or the media. Trust in governments worldwide dropped to 53%, after seeing an 11-point surge in May during the coronavirus pandemic. "Trust has actually gone local," Edelman said. "Business is the most trusted institution, but 'my employer' and 'my employer CEO' and even 'my employer publication' — newsletter — is more trusted than media."

More than three-quarters of respondents worldwide, and 72% in the U.S., said they trusted their employer "to do what is right." "It's a big responsibility now for businesses to be part of the information flow — not replacing mainstream media, but supplementing with quality information that the employees can use in their everyday lives," Edelman said. With the responsibility also comes new demands of businesses and their CEOs.

"The events of this past year reinforced business' responsibility to lead on societal issues such as upskilling workers and racial justice," Edelman said in the press release. "It has also led to new expectations of business expanding its remit into unfamiliar areas, such as providing and safeguarding information." Nine in ten respondents said they want CEOs to speak out about racial issues, the pandemic and job automation, while 53% of respondents believed that corporations need to fill the information void "when news media is absent." Additionally, this trust comes with greater expectations in the workplace, with 60% and 50% of millennials and genZs respectively believing that layoffs were avoidable.

Ken’s Take Away: While the rise of quiet quitting might hint at what happens if this nascent trust is lost, this greater position of responsibility for corporate leaders is a great opportunity to provide workers with the clarity and confidence that raise commitment. On the flip side, transparency of expectations and offerings is critical to make sure the gap between employees' expectations and employers' reality does not widen to a critical level.