Is trust a renewable resource? We have to hope that it is. If trust cannot be restored from its current sickly condition then leaders will soon find their task becoming almost impossibly difficult. The old quip about knowing when the boss is lying – his lips move – will be the new conventional wisdom. Managers will take their place alongside politicians, second- hand car salesmen and journalists as yet another undesirable element: social outcasts.

Many are gloomy about the chances of greater levels of trust returning to corporate life. If you are viewing the world from London, which is a global centre of excellence for cynicism, it is hard not to be. But trust is declining just about everywhere. The most recent findings from the Edelman trust barometer, a well-established annual survey, found that 62 per cent of “upper income, highly educated” people in 20 countries had less trust in corporations than they did a year previously. I doubt if averagely educated, average income people would be any more trusting either.

This much you know already. But can anything be done about it? Last week, I went to a seminar in cynical old London in search of help.

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