Our Perspective
What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.
The Missed Lever
Most leadership teams still assume that bigger reach leads to deeper trust. The instinct is understandable: scale suggests security. Yet the data points the other way. The Edelman Trust Barometer notes that around six in ten people are more likely to trust brands operating within their own country, signalling that proximity and accountability shape confidence. That is the real lever. Trust grows when people see who will show up, who will fix things if they go wrong, and who understands the nuances of place. Treat local trust as a strategic asset, not a sentimental idea.
Trust Is Proximity
Local credibility isn’t a tagline. It’s built where value meets lived context. When organisations are explicit about where they’re present, how they serve, and how they can be held to account, scepticism eases and decisions move faster. We often see leadership teams unlock momentum when they frame proximity as risk reduction rather than communications.
- Relevance: specific needs, regulations, and behaviours in defined regions.
- Commitment: visible presence, service responsiveness, and continuity.
- Accountability: clear owners, local escalation paths, and consequences.
The move from reach-first to relevance-first begins with designing for these three, then letting communication follow operations.
Operational Proof Points
If credibility is proximity made real, then proof must live in the operating model. Leaders should make it easy for buyers to verify presence and responsibility without asking. That means hard, checkable signals rather than generic claims.
- Publish region-specific service levels, response times, and fulfilment coverage.
- Show local partnerships and supply choices that improve outcomes, not optics.
- Provide governance details: named leaders, escalation channels, audit cadence.
- Share regional case stories with measurable results and independent references.
This isn’t shrinking ambition; it is making scale legible and accountable in the places that matter most.
Competing On Trust
Challengers can out-trust larger rivals by making proximity tangible: faster decisions in-region, people with names not functions, and outcomes owned locally. For global players, the advantage comes from coupling the benefits of scale with place-based proof—decision-making closer to customers, service commitments that differ by region, and transparent stewardship of local impacts.
The commercial effect is pragmatic: shorter evaluation cycles, stronger conversion in priority segments, and reputations that travel because they are grounded somewhere real. As markets keep resetting, the organisations that turn proximity into verifiable proof will set the pace while others keep shouting from a distance.
Sources:
Edelman Trust Barometer