News flash: Edelman Trust Barometer's 2026 Report, a deep dive.

Its been five years since I first stumbled across the Edelman Trust Barometer; the annual read on trust in society thats been being measured for 26 years now.

It has fast become one of my must-read reports for the year providing an in-depth view of what's changing in society and guiding much of the advice I talked to CEOs and leaders around the world about.

For twenty-six years, Edelman - the world's largest PR firm - has conducted this survey. Born out of the San Francisco riots in the year 2000, it has gone on to provide a barometer for how society is changing and how events happening around the world are impacting people's trust levels.

I've flagged for a number of years already how trust is faltering at an alarming rate. Be it through the rise of misinformation or disinformation on social channels to the public's increasing reliance on type 1 thinking - where we see something and take it as truth rather than dive deeper to test the reality and balance our views of an opinion or headline.

We're in a dangerous place right now and this year's trust barometer findings highlight that even more so than 2025s report did.

Since 2005, societal trust has been in decline.

With social media becoming a source of people's source of news in this time frame, and media and government alike becoming more and more willing to tell whatever truth they want you to believe (rather than what is factual or accurate). Its little wonder that society has fallen gradually, then even more rapidly, into societal polarisation.

Last years report highlighted how people had become increasingly aggrieved towards each other - particularly people different to themselves. This years report speaks to the rise of insularity in society where people have reached a stage where they simply no longer trust anyone they deem to be different to themselves.

These are difficult times. Political viewpoints position people at odds with each other just as class systems and income do. Throw in religious beliefs and national identity and we're in the thick of a societal breakdown I've not personally seen in the near 50-years I've been on this planet we call home.

What does this all means for business? Well, in a world where media and government are perceived by many to be both unethical and incompetent, business (local business) is viewed as the one last beacon of hope for rebuilding trust amongst people.

When traditional institutions - we have previously relied upon to guide us to a better reality - fail, society has started to look to local business leaders to bridge the gap and do their part in creating more cohesion and harmony where cracks and division have formed.

With three quarters of people believing that insularity in society needs to be addressed and almost half believing we have reached a crisis point that requires urgent attention. Business leaders hold the important responsibility of brokering trust between people.

Thats the beacon of hope coming out of this year's report. That the breakdown in society can yet be healed. Divisions can be closed. Trust can be rebuilt.

We require leadership to light that path to the new reality though. Courageous leadership built on values of trust, togetherness and a belief that difference can in fact still be a strength.

What can business leaders do? Well they can start by

• Consulting people with different values and backgrounds to their own when making business decisions

• Constructively engage with groups who consistently criticise or distrust their company to understand their viewpoints and perspectives

• Promote a shared identity and culture so their employees get reminded of all that unites them rather than divides them

• Invest in building teams that require people with different values to work together to succeed

• Provide mandatory training on how to engage in constructive dialogue amid conflict

• Bring employees into the workplace to interact with people who are different to themselves, and

• Partner with unexpected organisations to begin the process of initiating cross-cultural or cross-political conversations

Trust can be lost quickly but can regained also.

Society, it turns out, requires a special type of leadership in this current climate and business leaders (local business leaders) hold that all important key people are looking for right now.

Are you the trust broker your people need? Are you brave and courageous enough to fill the gap traditional institutions have left open?