Rebuilding trust in an “age of grievance:” Insights from Edelman U.S. CEO Kirsty Graham

She’s been a diplomat and ambassador to the United Nations, an executive for a biopharmaceutical company and now leads the U.S. arm of a global communications firm. Edelman U.S. CEO Kirsty Graham is also my latest guest for #OnPurpose, and in this episode, I was thrilled to hear her insights on how leaders can rebuild trust in such complex times. 

Growing up, Kirsty had no idea she would one day influence thousands of global leaders. Her journey began in a small New Zealand community in a school with 65 children. At the age of 8, Kirsty’s parents moved the family to Singapore. 

“The school in Singapore had 2,000 students. My brother and I were the only foreigners in the school, and I think this radical change really made me think about the importance of understanding different cultures, having curiosity and doing things that really take you out of your comfort zone.” 

In the years that followed, Kirsty would exercise her own curiosity to learn about other cultures and experience new roles, including a range of diplomatic assignments through the Foreign Service. 

“I had the assignment to be the Deputy Investor at the UN…. My boss, the investor at the time, said, ‘You’re going to be asked to chair negotiations quite early on.’ I said, ‘Well, I can’t – I don’t feel I know enough.’ She said, ‘You must do this. You will learn a lot and I’m going to help you….’ So, I ended up by chairing a negotiation in my first six months – 192 countries, and you’re trying to get a deal. And what I learned in that setting was to trust your instincts…. I learned a ton about negotiating from my time in the UN. That was an incredible experience.” 

That experience set the stage for a 10-year leadership role at Pfizer, where she gained a wealth of knowledge about the pharma industry and society’s trust of business. 

“I look back on that time as just the most profound learning, understanding the street, understanding global public health, understanding how regulatory, legal, policy, M&A – how all those pieces come together in a large multinational that’s operating in so many markets in a highly regulated industry.” 

As I talked with Kirsty, I was fascinated by the way each role not only expanded her knowledge of business, but taught her so much about the importance of trust -- a topic Edelman has focused on for 25 years through its Trust Barometer. The survey measures how well society trusts government, business, the media and non-governmental organizations. The data helps identify the most trusted sources of information, gaps, trends and other insights that help leaders make decisions about their organizations. 

“We’ve seen polarization for a number of years, and what we’ve moved into now is almost a sense of, if you’re winning, I mustn’t be…And when you think about a sense of grievance and what institutions need to do about it, how do you bring people back into a common humanity, as opposed to, if you’re winning, I’m not?” 

During our conversation, Kirsty offered some immediate and solid advice for leaders who want to begin rebuilding trust for their organization. 

“Three things really jump out at me. The first one would be the importance of listening. I think we are in a really noisy world right now. There’s a lot of complexity…. Don’t make any assumptions about where your customers are, about where your workforce is. Make sure you are listening – what are people talking about, what are their concerns, what are they excited about? 

“The second thing I’d say is making sure that your actions follow what you say. People get much more confidence and trust if they believe that what a leader says is actually what they do…. Make sure your values are steadfast. 

“The last thing I would say is, be transparent. I think CEOs can play a really important role now in being very transparent. You don’t have to have all the answers but explain it… saying this is what is being announced, this is what it means for us, these are the sorts of scenarios we’re working on. I really believe people can cope with bad news. They find the surprise much harder to deal with.” 

To hear more from Kirsty about rebuilding trust “in the age of grievance,” check out On Purpose+, which features the entire 18-minute conversation. During the conversation, Kirsty talks more about how a philosophy degree led to a diplomat role – and what she learned about relationships when she pivoted from pharma to a global public relations company.