The TrustMakers

Professor Heidi Larson, Founding Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, joins the Edelman Trust Institute’s Justin Blake for the final installment of our Davos series. Heidi dives into why she started the Vaccine Confidence Project and how the organization is working on the ground to build trust in and beyond vaccines. “We need to start to facilitate dialogue. I don’t think turning our back to the extreme anti groups is the solution. We’ve done that for too long and that’s what has given them a red carpet to fill the space,” she says.

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Tim Davie, Director General of the BBC, joins the Edelman Trust Institute’s Justin Blake for a conversation at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. Tim discusses how the BBC builds trust by telling the truth, what it’s like to cover the news in an increasingly polarized world, and what he hopes to get out of his first meeting in Davos. “Bringing the truth and bringing an impartial lens on things does not mean it’s unexciting or lacking in personality…You’ve got to get excited about uncovering truth. It’s not the dull option,” he says.

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Adrian Monck, the Head of External Engagement and Communications for the World Economic Forum (WEF), sits down with the Edelman Trust Institute’s Justin Blake at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Adrian and Justin discuss this year’s annual meeting, how to “gently” build a trusted source of information, and the findings from the newly released 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer.  “What Davos does is operate as an informal gathering place for senior figures in government and international organizations to have unscripted conversations…This gives people a moment to step back and think about what they’re going to do in the year ahead and what they’re trying to achieve,” he says.

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For the first episode of 2023, Edelman’s Justin Blake is joined by former CEO and Chairman of Best Buy, Hubert Joly. Hubert and Justin discuss why now is the time for business to lead with purpose, how purpose can improve your bottom line, and how the best CEOs are navigating today’s world. “If you define your business based off the way you’ve historically delivered products and services, you get stuck and don’t evolve. Whereas if you define it around the needs you’re trying to address in the world, it allows you to evolve and stay relevant,” he says.  

Hubert Joly’s full essay can be found in the Edelman Trust Institute’s publication, Restoring Trust in a Fractured World, available now.

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Amanda Edelman, COO of the Gen Z Lab, sits down with Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA, to talk about his work combating divisiveness and polarization on college campuses by creating spaces for open discussion. “What we do is not unique or different. To me, we’re doing the most basic work that exists in a society, which is helping people talk to each other. That’s it,” he says. 

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Edelman’s Smita Reddy sits down with Kyle Lock, Vice President of Marketing at Butterball, to discuss how the company has become a staple of American culture by providing millions of turkeys, as well as cooking advice, for the Thanksgiving holiday. Kyle shares how the Turkey Talk-Line has shaped the brand’s larger purpose and how it continues to evolve. “We’ve tapped very much into both what is expected and what is unexpected for when you interact with the talk-line: technical support and also some emotional support,” he says.  

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Justin Blake, Executive Director of the Edelman Trust Institute, is joined by Tensie Whelan, Director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, for a conversation on how businesses can become more trusted to address climate change. “We need to shift people’s thinking and have them understand that sustainability can actually be a contributor to the core attributes of a product and help it be a better product,” she says.

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Join Edelman’s Smita Reddy as she sits down with Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, CMO of DoorDash, for the Season Two premiere live at Advertising Week New York. Smita and Kofi discuss DoorDash’s framework for engaging in social issues, their approach to empowering local economies through Neighborhood of Good, and how they differ from other tech companies. “Values have a cost – they’re not free. If you’re going to take a stance, you have to be prepared that it’s going to come with part of your constituent base that’s not aligned. But we feel confident that so long as it’s true to the business we’re building, empowering local communities and equality of opportunity, we’ll take the flack,” Kofi says.  

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Follow behind the scenes as Edelman’s Smita Reddy talks with Klondike’s Tracy Shepard-Rashkin about the ice cream discontinuation that shook the internet, and how the brand decided to respond. “Brands like Klondike have to discontinue products all the time. Flavors come and flavors go usually without much muss and fuss. We knew Choco Taco would be different… But we certainly had no idea of the caliber of the public outcry that was about to come our way,” Tracy says. 

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Hillary Hoffower, Success Editor at Fortune, joins Edelman’s Jackie Cooper to talk about the defining differences between Gen Z and Millennials, why there’s more to Gen Z than Tik Tok, and how younger generations are shaking up the workplace. “At the end of the day, Gen Z wants a personalized career experience. They want to work on their terms, and that can be hard for managers to reckon with because it can create a power struggle. They want freedom and flexibility, but also need structure. And they want to feel seen and heard as humans, rather than robots making profit for a company. The days of the traditional boss are on their way out – they want more of a guide or a coach,” she says.

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