“There’s an old saying, ‘Things move at the speed of trust,’” Brian Chesky, co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb, said on Wednesday at The New York Times DealBook conference. “Well, how could you possibly trust something on a platform if you don’t even know if it’s true?” If there is one singular issue that defines the intersection of business and policy at this moment, it is a deepening trust deficit. That appeared to be the conclusion of some of the most consequential leaders who came together for this year’s conference, “Playing for the Long Term.” The words “trust” and “responsibility” were peppered throughout more than a dozen conversations as well as what needs to change to regain that trust.
Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist, talked about the distrust between the United States and China, and his worries that such mistrust is missing a bigger point.
“If you’re so paranoid,” he said, “you know, what about the code that’s being written by somebody whose grandmother was Chinese, or great-grandmother was Chinese? My God, just think about it. I mean, is there any piece of software in the world that you’re willing to trust?”
Hillary Clinton said she was worried about Facebook’s decision to allow paid political advertising.
“Information is the bloodstream of a democracy,” she said. “And if we are living in a world increasingly where the press — the historic, traditional press — is under constant attack, the internet is filled with all kinds of unreliable and often blatantly false information, how do we even begin to judge that?”
Dennis A. Muilenburg, the chief executive of Boeing — which is in the midst of a crisis concerning its grounded 737 Max — talked about trying to regain the public’s trust in personal terms.
“It’s fair to say I’ve thought about” resigning, he said. “But to be frank, that’s not what’s in my character. I don’t see running away from a challenge, resigning, is the right solution.” He added that the way he grew up, “what I believe in today, and the values I try to share with my team, is when we have challenges we face into them.”
But the issue of trust — or lack of it — crystallized in the discussion with Mr. Chesky.
“I think many of us in this industry over the last 10 years are going from a hands-off model, where the internet’s an immune system, to realizing that’s not really enough, that we have to take more responsibility for the stuff on our platform,” he said. “And I think this has been a gradual, maybe too gradual, transition for our industry.”
Mr. Chesky’s comments came in the wake of a shooting that killed five people and injured several others at an Airbnb property on Halloween.
Mr. Chesky said he planned to change the way the company operates — no longer relying solely on crowdsourced reviews. He plans to verify the properties on his site, often manually. It is a reversal from the way so many tech companies have operated for years, relying on customers to provide star ratings to other customers rather than vet much of what’s on their platforms themselves.
“When I came to Silicon Valley 10 years ago, the word ‘technology’ may as well have been a dictionary definition for the word ‘good,’” he said. “We all believed it: Technology equals good. Because technology is progress, and every piece of progress is a step forward for humanity. So therefore if you’re in the technology business, you’re ‘making the world a better place.’
“And I think the problem with that culture is it made us not ask really thoughtful questions about, well, what is the impact of our technology on society?”
That conversation is clearly beginning to happen, both within the world of business leaders and policymakers and beyond. Even Kim Kardashian West jumped in to the trust debate on social media, long her preferred medium. She is particularly concerned about social media’s impact on young people.
“I think taking the ‘likes’ away — taking that aspect away from it — would be really beneficial for people” and their mental health, she said.
Businesspeople and policy leaders are scrambling for new ways to engender trust with constituents, including shareholders, employees and regulators. Some are trying to be more transparent. Others are diving into political and social issues that used to be verboten. Perhaps more than anything, they’re speaking publicly more about their thinking.
Alex Gorsky, the chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, explained how he had tried to communicate more with his employees.
“It’s a little bit like a bank account,” he said. “If you have an ongoing conversation, and you’re making contributions to that account over time, you’re building trust, you’re being open, you’re being transparent, you’re being authentic with them.” He said he was giving “them the opportunity to have a debate.” He added: “Then I think you’re going to build a lot of trust. Because someday you’re likely going to need to make a withdrawal.”
Source: NYT > Business
