Trust is not only a determining factor in consumer choice, but it is also a key element that builds business connections across international borders and allows companies, regardless of industry, to grow.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) 2024 Trust Survey, 95 percent of business executives say organizations have a responsibility to build trust and 93 percent agree that the ability to build and maintain trust improves their bottom line.
Newsweek recently published its second annual ranking of the World’s Most Trustworthy Companies, in partnership with data platform Statista. This list includes businesses in 23 industries that operate in 20 different countries.
“Trust in companies is crucial as it drives customer loyalty, enhances brand reputation, boosts employee morale and secures investor confidence,” according to Statista. “The ranking wants to provide guidance to shareholders and to highlight the companies that are most trusted.”
For the ranking, a survey was conducted with 70,000 participants from the target countries who were familiar with the companies in terms of the three touchpoints of trust: as an investor, employee or customer. In total, 230,000 evaluations were collected.
In the hospitality industry, generating trust is “invaluable” and “a critical competitive advantage,” Meliá Hotels International Chairman and CEO Gabriel Escarrer told Newsweek over email.
“Trustworthiness is crucial with our guests, as people must entrust us very much to confide their leisure, their precious holidays and their families’ wellbeing to us,” he said. “It is also crucial when it comes to investors’ decisions, and above all, talent acquisition as the qualified labor force shortage has become possibly the most critical factor for our company’s growth and strategy.”
Since the first World’s Most Trustworthy Companies ranking was published last year, several companies have improved their trustworthiness scores, jumping to the top spot in their respective industries.
The companies leading their industries have employed various tactics to maintain and boost trust among key stakeholders.
Escarrer said the priority at Meliá Hotels International, which debuted on this year’s list at the top spot in the travel, dining and leisure category, is to have high-quality customer experience management throughout the guest stay so the customer is “listened to, their satisfaction is measured and feedback is offered.”
Establishing trust also means cultivating a strong corporate culture of “active listening and dialogue” to ensure employees feel safe and satisfied with their working conditions, development opportunities and the company’s commitments to “diversity, inclusion and conciliation,” the CEO says.
When building trust among customers, employees and investors, Kellanova Chairman, President and CEO Steve Cahillane said, “There’s nothing more important than the tone [set] at the top.”
He told Newsweek in an interview that the leadership team has an “uncompromising commitment” every single day to doing the right thing and that permeates each aspect of operations.
“There’s no compromise ever around our ethics,” he said. “No matter where you are in the world, we operate with total integrity. And you have to live that value. You demonstrate that, and you make sure that the people around you are always demonstrating that.”
Last year, Kellogg’s divided into two companies—with WK Kellogg Co handling cereals, and Kellanova handling snack brands like Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, Eggo and Town House. Kellanova jumped from No. 13 to the No. 1 spot in the food and beverage category in this year’s ranking.
Cahillane joined the company seven years ago as the first CEO to come from outside the Kellogg company. He said the values Mr. Kellogg stood for over 100 years ago created a connection with customers over generations and are still present today.
Trustworthiness among consumers, therefore, is “foundational,” he said. Gaining a positive reputation takes years to build and can be destroyed overnight.
“We have to earn the right to be in that shopping basket. We have to earn the right to be on the breakfast table,” he said. “We have to earn that right every day, and we only do that if customers trust who we are, what we stand for [and] what we make.”
When the company split, Cahillane said he took it as an opportunity to step up the company’s commitments and increase its ambitions. Kellanova has exceeded those expectations. Even with the subsequent supply chain issues during COVID, Kellanova kept food on shelves, Cahillane said.
For investors, Cahillane said Kellanova put out a long-term algorithm and reintroduced its business strategy to become “a snacking powerhouse.” The company outlined goals and metrics to measure success to which it’d be held accountable. And quarter after quarter, Cahillane said the company has delivered on those financial commitments.
“Over the last seven years, we’ve become a more successful company,” he said. “We’re a faster, growing, higher-margin business than we’ve been for many, many years. And we’re delivering for our stakeholders each and every day.”
Newsweek recently published its second annual ranking of the World’s Most Trustworthy Companies, in partnership with data platform Statista. This list includes businesses in 23 industries that operate in 20 different countries.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek
Creating trust as leaders not only means delivering on commitments externally, but it also requires building an internal culture that is positive and transparent.
Mark Kenney is the CEO of Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT), Canada’s largest publicly traded provider of rental housing, according to the company’s website. The company debuted at the No. 1 spot in the real estate and housing category on this year’s ranking.
Kenney has been at CAPREIT for 27 years, but he took over as CEO five years ago after the former CEO and founder of the company, Tom Schwartz, died of cancer. When he assumed the new role, Kenney said there were aspects of the job, like investor relations, with which he was unfamiliar.
He told Newsweek that the strongest leaders are the ones who ask for help.
“Many leaders think that they have to say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing, I’m in control, I’ve got this,’ but it takes a far more powerful leader to say, ‘I don’t know,'” he said. “Be vulnerable, be honest. It has to be authentic and transparent.”
Diversity is also a major factor in establishing trust with customers and potential employees.
Last year, CAPREIT was recognized in the Equileap Global Report as one of 18 of the 3,787 companies included in the report, and the only company in Canada, to achieve gender balance at all employment levels (workforce, senior management, executives, board and CEO). According to the CAPREIT website, 53 percent of employees self-identify as female.
Kenney said these diversity achievements were “not intentional” but that this “culture of acceptance” certainly helps bolster trustworthiness.
“We did not set it with targets, we didn’t set it with policies,” he said. “We just naturally attracted the best people based on their merits and ended up with an incredibly diverse workforce. We’re so proud.”
And trust is paramount in the housing industry.
“It’s very difficult to be an embraced housing provider, especially when you’re in the topic of affordability,” Kenney said. “Housing, for our customers, is the biggest part of a paycheck they give away. Expectations are high. People work hard for a living and expect the fruits of their hard labor.”
As companies continue to grow, they must balance the demands of maintaining earned trust and staying true to their founding values while also evolving.
One way to do this is by bringing the values and mission of the company to new markets.
CAPREIT recently became a multinational provider by expanding to the Netherlands and Ireland. Kellanova launched a noodle product in Africa that CEO Cahillane said is an “accessible, satiating, healthy, affordable product” for families. The Pringles brand is also present in over 180 countries, with region-specific flavors like seaweed crisps in Asian markets.
At Kellanova, Cahillane understands that innovation is part of the company’s DNA. Kellogg’s invented breakfast cereal with the introduction of Corn Flakes in the late 19th century.
“When you have a brand that’s as valuable as the Kellogg brand, you have to make sure you always protect that,” he said. “But you can’t protect that to the point where you stop innovating, you stop taking risks and you stop doing things that are interesting and exciting.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel and hospitality industries were in recovery. Meliá Hotels International CEO Escarrer knows that the company must regain the trust of customers and employees and rebuild relationships and transparency with investors by being present at trade shows and networking fairs.
The company is also looking into ways to innovate through the integration of artificial intelligence to improve the personalization and efficiency of the customer experience, all while maintaining “the human touch essential to convey our brand values, empathy and warmth that characterize us,” Escarrer said.
“At the end of 2024, we will build a more resilient, more trustworthy and more profitable company after recovering from the pandemic, and we’ll be concentrating our efforts to achieve goals that maximize our cash generation and minimize our net debt, improving our profit margins to consolidate our efficiency despite the inflationary situation,” he said. “Meliá Hotels International will remain strongly committed with its stakeholders to preserve and enhance our greatest asset: their trust.”
