Session Blurb:

Rebuilding trust: an agenda for governance
With the growing public skepticism and even cynicism regarding politicians and the way our institutions function, the issue of trust has now become a major issue in most countries around the world. The impact of globalization and the tremendous pressures that accelerated economic and technological change are putting on our societies are eroding social cohesion and the very notion of trust as a key element to ensure social cohesion and political legitimacy. What can be done to reverse this very dangerous trend? What should be the guidelines for effective and trust-building governance in an era of fast changes in every single domain?

Speakers:
Laura Liswood, Senior Advisor, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Secretary General, Council of Women World Leaders, USA
Anne Lauvergeon, Chief Executive Officer, Areva, France
Ayo Obe, Chair of the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Goree Institute, Nigeria
Moderator: Maria Livanos Cattaui, Member of the Board of Directors, Petroplus Holdings; Vice-
Chairman, International Crisis Group, Switzerland

Anne Lauvergeon – spoke in french and I couldn’t catch much of her opening statements - which were around rebuilding of confidence – esp with customers – constituents. Is it more difficult to rebuild trust with customers or constituents?

Ayo — more countries in Africa – it’s a danger…we have changed from dictatorship to democracy .. and democracy is not working …. People blame the govt, human rights groups, ngos etc. Trivialization of democracies – citizens allow it to happen … citizens need to take it into their hands … in Nigeria – do stuff around citizen empowerment and public life.
Wants more people to be actively involved in politics. The people must realise they have the right to make discerning choices – this doesn’t mean simply standing for office, but getting more involved.

Laura — diffce bt popularity and confidence? Are women gaining this more today? Many credible surveys do suggest decline of trust in many institutions. Who gets trusted and who doesn’t – problem is there is so much complex information – how do you know what’s really happening or not — it is so complex and you hear so many conflicting facts … so people start getting into trivializations. One of the unintended consequences of education — is that people feel they know lots about lots of things. Politics today is very combative – politicians are not nec. likeable – say Hillary Clinton – do I like her, do I trust her, is she competent, is she like me?

The more you become democratic, you need to have trust .. but cant keep it in a safe … saying I have that trust capital – but we have to use it.

Maria – not in the midst of a crisis – but in the midst of change and differing approaches — crumbling cliff theory for women – folks say – lets try a woman now. Women are more trustworthy in certain areas – is there real data or is this wishful thinking?

Women trust institutions more because they believe they need them more – men feel they can be more self-reliant — women need these safety nets.

Maria then asks the audience - do you have confidence in the institutions of governance … many hands up …. How many cynical – quite a few. Still – there is more optimism in this room.

Trust and confidence … is that the right question to ask?

Ayo — we transmit to our rulers – we trust them .. but in our personal lives … we may not. We have to first learn to trust ourselves. We have to use our trust in ourselves to demand respect.

Anne – taking risks and trust … we must also look at ourselves from the outside .. some self-doubt is good too. Today – you can’t develop a business without the trust of your people. The yin and yang we have in asia – we perhaps need that. Listen to each other, have a dialogue, this is the collective challenge —— a lot of the confidence we have built up can be destroyed overnight.

Laura — a combination perhaps – trust ourselves yes – we equally with men – should have the confidence to lead – entitled to speak for humanity. A sense of ourselves – we as human beings are institutions.

Self doubt and Self confidence – the balance between the two is important. The difference between openness, leadership, the few and the many. We’re facing a world of greater complexity … and of greater demand to understand that complexity .. we have to learn to embrace it … one of the reasons we say we have a question of trust and confidence. Because we have not learnt to love and embrace the complexity. So we look for simple solutions.

Maria was a great moderator for this session! And my key takeout was that it’s not a simple question about trust and confidence anymore - and about whether women can help rebuild it - its more about being able to embrace the complexities and beginning to listen better, and dialogue more - and this would bring about greater trust eventually.

Share This