Trust Imperative

Lessons from the US investment banking scandal



1. Companies that want to be trusted need to decide which customers they can serve.



2. Companies also need to decide what they can be trustworthy about. There are some areas where companies simply cannot deliver, however good their intentions. For example, airlines cannot control the weather.



3. Companies that do not have the right product for customers should suggest that they go elsewhere.



source: Glen Urban, The Trust Imperative (MIT Sloan, March 2003)