Next week, I launch the crowd-funding of my new book, Trust Me: PR Is Dead. It charts the fall of Public Relations and the rise of Public Leadership. Its central argument is simple: when it comes to trust, PR has been part of the problem and is certainly not part of the solution. Beware the PR firm that tells or sells you otherwise.
The t-word has been used and abused to the point of exhaustion, both by politicians and business leaders struggling to come to terms with a changed world. Trust resides with citizens not with leaders or corporations. Trust is earned by actions, not massaged by words. It’s what you do, not what you say that counts.
We have reached a genuine turning point. There is no return to “old trust” in the changed world. Smart leaders will recognise this and change their behaviours before they change their communications. Those who don’t might justifiably be called trustdusters, in homage to the greenwashers who preceded them.
We cannot go on like this. There has to be a better way.
Robert’s next book, Trust Me: PR is Dead will be published by Unbound later this year. Crowd-funding will launch on the Unbound website next week.
