Channeling trust in North America to stay on innovation’s cutting edge

Executives in North America realize they must toe the line between innovation and trust. As part of a global January 2022 survey of executives and consumers by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 60% of the North American executives responding said they consider innovation to be a “very high” priority — a higher percentage than in any other region. But those executives also know the cost of a loss of customer trust; 67% said a lack of trust would cause “significant economic damage” to their operations. 

According to Sandra Sucher, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School (HBS) and author of The power of trust: How companies build it, lose it and regain it, trust is assessed based on four dimensions: motive, means, competence, and impact. Each of these is important, but competence, she says, sits at the very core of innovation. 

Read the North America report to find out more.