Over two thousand years ago, Confucius argued that trust is the foundation of society. When asked what a government needs in order to function, he placed the trust of the people above military strength and economic resources.
While the tools have changed, the principle has not. Modern organisations still rely on trust to function. The difference today is that trust is increasingly built through data transparency and visibility.
This applies to organisations of all kinds, but it is particularly important for corporates, social enterprises and mission-led organisations making social and environmental claims, where credibility increasingly depends on evidence rather than intent.
Trust is not “soft”. It is economic
Trust is often spoken about as a cultural or ethical concept. In reality, it has very real economic consequences.
In The Speed of Trust, Stephen M. R. Covey argues that trust is a measurable economic driver. High-trust environments move faster, cost less and reduce friction. Low-trust environments slow decision-making, increase oversight costs and introduce drag across systems.
Public-facing data plays a direct role here. When performance is visible, claims can be tested. Confidence is built not through reassurance, but through evidence.
Transparency does not mean publishing everything. It means publishing what matters.
Why transparency underpins the UK system
The UK’s position as a global financial services centre is built on long-established systems of transparency, accountability and independent verification.
Public company filings, audited accounts and accessible ownership records, for example through Companies House, exist not because organisations are untrusted, but because trust must be continually earned and reinforced.
As a Chartered Accountant who now works as a social impact consultant, I have seen how rigour and transparency underpin financial reporting and profit, and why impact measurement and reporting must be treated with the same level of seriousness.
These same mechanisms create a shared baseline of truth, allowing organisations, investors and the public to understand performance consistently and with confidence.
Public data is already normal, even if imperfect
Publishing performance data is not a radical idea. It already happens across many traditional sectors.
Healthcare provides a clear example. NHS England publishes waiting times, outcomes and service performance. National datasets are openly available through the Office for National Statistics. Utilities, transport networks and infrastructure providers routinely disclose reliability and service metrics.
That said, transparency alone is not enough. For public data to build trust, it must focus on meaningful KPIs, be understandable to non-specialists, and be supported by clear and credible methodology. Without this, openness can confuse rather than reassure.
Dashboards as trust interfaces
Dashboards are increasingly becoming a public-facing interface through which organisations communicate performance and progress.
As Gareth Murphy, Founder of Fluid IT, puts it:
“We work especially with manufacturing and private-equity-backed businesses, and we can see how dashboards change how stakeholders understand progress. When organisations make performance visible, it shifts the conversation. Good dashboards don’t just report data. They build confidence.”
This shift places far greater emphasis on data quality, governance and clarity, not just presentation.
Branding, greenwashing and the cost of lost trust
Brands were originally built to create trust. Trust reduced uncertainty, enabled loyalty and justified a premium.
Today, that trust is no longer automatic. Consumers are more sceptical, better informed and exposed to multiple versions of the truth. Unsupported claims now carry significant reputational risk.
As Chris Arnold, Co-Founder of My Social Impact, notes:
“Greenwashing and impact washing do not just undermine sustainability claims. They damage brand trust. Once credibility is lost, it is incredibly difficult and expensive to rebuild.”
This is not a communications problem. It is a strategic one.
What corporates can learn from NGOs about trust and evidence
While this article focuses primarily on corporates, social enterprises and B Corps, it is useful to briefly reference the NGO and donor-funded sector.
NGOs have long been required to evidence impact through monitoring, evaluation and reporting, often under donor scrutiny. In that sense, they offer a useful reference point for where corporate impact reporting is heading. However, expectations in this space are also rising.
As Nicholas Demeter, a development finance and programme specialist, explains:
“Good intentions are no longer enough in donor-funded work. Trust now depends on clear outcomes, credible data and openness about what’s really happening on the ground.”
Across sectors, the direction of travel is the same.
Impact data and the need for joined-up leadership
One of the biggest weaknesses in how organisations approach impact today is fragmentation. ESG, CSR, HR, sustainability and marketing teams often operate in silos, leading to inconsistent messaging and weak accountability.
For trust to be credible, what marketing communicates externally must be rooted in a unified impact strategy defined at C-suite level and understood across the organisation.
Impact data needs the same discipline that financial data has benefited from for decades: clear definitions, consistent methodologies and independent challenge.
B Corp, accountability and changing expectations
I am currently researching B Corps and social enterprises across the UK and East Africa, exploring how expectations of good business are changing in practice.
One of the most significant features of the B Corp framework, overseen by B Lab, is public accountability. Scores are published, flagged issues are visible, and progress can be tracked over time.
If you are considering becoming a B Corp, or are already certified and willing to share your experience, I would welcome insights as part of this ongoing research.
Trust in practice: Octopus Energy
A practical example can be seen in Octopus Energy, now one of the largest B Corps in the UK.
Octopus is notable not just for its certification, but for how openly it communicates performance to customers. Pricing structures, energy usage, service metrics and product innovation are presented in ways that are accessible to non-experts. This visibility plays a direct role in building customer trust.
The lesson is not that transparency guarantees success, but that trust, credibility and scale increasingly reinforce one another when claims are backed by visible data.
Trust in the age of AI
We now operate in an era shaped by fragmented media, misinformation and rapidly advancing artificial intelligence.
AI can surface insights and approximate objectivity, but it remains dependent on how models are built and who controls them. In a world where information is abundant and expertise can be simulated quickly, trust increasingly rests not in information alone, but in people, processes and evidence.
From dashboards to trust
Dashboards are no longer just internal management tools. Increasingly, they form part of an organisation’s public trust infrastructure.
From Confucius to modern data platforms, the message is consistent. Trust is foundational. What has changed is how trust is built.
The organisations that earn trust tomorrow will be those willing to make performance visible today.
Trust is no longer promised.
It is demonstrated.
Written by
Marcus Warry is a Chartered Accountant and social impact consultant, and a co-founder of My Social Impact. His background is in auditing large companies and banks and reporting on financial performance and profit. His current work focuses on ensuring social and environmental impact is measured, managed and reported with the same level of rigour, transparency and accountability.
Contributors quoted in this article
Gareth Murphy is a management consultant and founder of Fluid IT, working primarily with manufacturing and private-equity-backed businesses on data, reporting and public-facing dashboard systems.
Dr Chris Arnold is a co-founder of My Social Impact and a recognised expert in ethical marketing and brand trust. A former Creative Board Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, he is the author of Ethical Marketing and the New Consumer.
Nicholas Demeter is a development finance and programme specialist with extensive experience supporting NGOs and donor-funded initiatives, including large USAID-backed programmes.
Confucius was unavailable for interview due to time-travel constraints, but his views on trust remain well documented.
