In today’s low-trust, high-anxiety environment, business has an outsized role in bridging divides and rebuilding trust in institutions. Not because it’s perfect, but because it is often the most proximate institution in people’s lives and among the most trusted. Employers and CEOs, in particular, are seen as highly credible sources of information.
That matters more than ever because trust isn’t just low; it’s fragmented.
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that seven in ten people are hesitant or unwilling to trust someone who has different values and backgrounds, consumes different sources of information, or holds differing views on ideas for solving societal problems than them. At the same time, economic anxiety is pervasive, with growing concern about recession and trade conflict-related job impacts.
Importantly, that anxiety is not evenly distributed. The data shows a widening trust gap between higher- and lower-income groups, with fundamentally different views of how institutions are performing and who they are serving. For many, the promise that innovation creates opportunity no longer feels credible.
As economies transition toward more technology and AI-enabled models, a sizable share of people, particularly those who are lower-income, worry they will be left behind rather than realize any actual advantages. Business leaders are echoing this concern, warning that AI disruption, geopolitical instability and declining institutional trust are converging risks.
This combination of low trust, high anxiety, and unequal experience defines today’s public affairs environment. People are not just uncertain; they are operating with a sense of personal risk. They are turning inward, relying more on their immediate networks including employers, peers and local communities, while becoming more skeptical of national and global institutions.
For business, that creates both a challenge and a responsibility.
The traditional model of public affairs - top-down messaging and reliance on institutional authority - is less effective in this environment. Authority alone doesn’t persuade. Proximity and relevance do. That shift is already visible in the data. Trust is increasingly local. People place more confidence in institutions and voices that are close to their day-to-day lives and less in those that feel distant or abstract.
At the same time, there’s a clear expectation gap. Institutions are widely expected to help bridge divides, but far fewer believe they’re doing it effectively. Business, and especially employers, are uniquely positioned to close that gap.
Increasingly, that role extends beyond communication into something closer to diplomacy. In a polarized, high-anxiety environment, there is also a growing expectation that businesses help lower the partisan temperature, bringing people together around shared interests and creating space for more constructive dialogue.
This is where trust brokering becomes critical.
Trust brokering is not about persuading people to change their views. It’s about creating enough shared understanding to move forward toward common goals despite differences. It means acknowledging that people have different values, sources of information and lived experiences, and translating across those differences to find common ground. Working together, rather than in opposition to one another, enables collective action, stimulates growth, and strengthens competitiveness.
The data shows this approach works. When institutions are seen as effectively brokering trust, overall trust levels increase by 18 points among lower-income groups that tend to be the most skeptical, making their levels of trust on par with high-income.
The reality is that trust has become a form of strategic infrastructure. Without it, even well-designed policies struggle to gain traction. With it, institutions are far better positioned to navigate complexity, economic volatility, and change.
For business leaders, the implication is clear: trust is no longer just a reputational asset. It is an operating requirement.
In this environment, there are three things business must get right:
- Make it real: Connect policy and global issues to tangible local impact such as jobs, costs, security, and economic opportunity. If people can’t see how policy and action affect their daily lives, it won’t land. Multi-nationals must start behaving as multi-locals.
- Focus on shared stakes: Avoid zero-sum or overly adversarial framing. In a high-anxiety environment, lowering the temperature matters. Emphasize what people have in common and what we’re solving for together.
- Choose the right messengers: The messenger now matters as much as the message. Trust is built through credible, relatable voices: employees, business leaders, and experts who can translate complexity into something people understand.
As Tip O’Neill famously said, all politics is local and in today’s environment, trust follows the same pattern. It’s earned through proximity, consistency, and action.
And that matters, because action earns trust and trust drives growth.
Aaron Guiterman, U.S. Head of Government & Public Affairs.