Rachel Botsman

To survive and thrive, an organization needs trust – and we need it now more than ever. It’s fundamental to almost every action, relationship and transaction. Yet the rules of how trust is built, managed, lost and repaired are rapidly changing in the digital age. The trust we used to place in traditional institutions – governments, banks, media, and charities – has hit an all-time low. Trust is now flowing horizontally through systems and networks, in some instances to our fellow human beings and, in other cases, to programs and bots. The implications, both good and bad, for organizations, institutions and society are immense. Be it data breaches or misinformation, automation or algorithms, technology can feed our deepest fears yet embody our greatest hopes.

Drawing on extensive research and stories from her latest book, Who Can You Trust?, Rachel Botsman illuminates with clarity, humor and optimism, the real impacts of technology on trust, giving companies clear language and thinking to embed trust into the fabric of the organization. She reveals in ways that are both entertaining and informative, what leaders and companies need to adapt to this new era to gain and keep customer’s trust.

Leaders in organizations of all shapes and sizes are asking the same question: How do we build more trust? Yet, it’s not quite the right question to be asking. Trust is not given; it’s something earned slowly, over time. It sounds simple but it is increasingly challenging when it feels like we are living in a world where trust both seems more difficult to attain and is lost at lightning speed. After a decade of research and working with Fortune 500 companies, Rachel Botsman has observed how the way we think and talk about trust often doesn’t reflect the way trust works in the digital age. She provides clear insights into how leaders can make smarter trust decisions in different areas of business. Through engaging stories, Botsman explains the four traits that create trustworthy environments and how to empower leaders, employees and colleagues to harness the true value of trust.

Imagine the first time you swallow a digital-tracking pill, entrust your safety and possibly your life to a self-driving car or let a robot babysit your children. There’s one thing all these leaps require: trust. But in an era where we are increasingly alarmed about issues like tech addiction and data privacy, how can we be persuaded to cross the chasm of fear and take a risk on something new? In this dynamic keynote, Rachel Botsman reveals the fascinating relationship between trust, risk and innovation. Bringing together a wide range of research and stories, she explains ways to overcome common trust barriers and how people learn to trust strangers, products and ideas. Botsman offers organizations a new way of thinking about how organizations can enable these trust leaps for customers and employees, as well as for leadership teams themselves.