Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Earn back the public trust

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Earn back the public trust

Business has to change to earn back the public trust. Here is an article from Jeff Kindler, CEO of Pfizer.

At Pfizer, we’ve begun to change.
We know we need to be straight with people...

The stakes are high.
We know we will be measured not by what we say, but by what we do.
If we don’t do what we say we will, then we’ll lose trust even further.
Then we could lose customers or face more legal problems.

This is true for all leaders, whatever industry or public office they’re in.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...: When I read "Earn back public trust", two modern proverbs come to mind.

A rising tide (rising economy) lifts all boats (good boats as well as leaky boats).

When the tide goes out (sinking economy), we get to see who has been swimming naked (cutting corners in business dealings).

The economy has sunk and hopefully has finally hit rock bottom. No surprise to see business and political leaders all remorseful and promising to do better in the future. The clever Singapore verbal tai chi phrase "Let's move on..." comes to mind.

Of course, when the economy recovers (after the employees have made all the sacrifices), the nonsense (obscene salary increases for management) will start all over again.; March 24, 2010 10:22 PM
Anonymous said...: The social enterprise never does what it says....people first?
Rubbish! commission first. that is it.; March 24, 2010 10:31 PM
singaporeshortstories@gmail.com said...: Customers are the lifeblood of any business, hence companies must really earn back the trust of public.; March 24, 2010 11:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Do you think ntuc income does what it says, people before commission or profit?
Look at their products and you will soon find out they are bad deals.
If these products are bad deals why are they put up for sales?
Why is Revosave still sold when it is known to be a bad product for saving or protection and cannot benefit the buyers?
The answer is they are not truthful.What they do and what they say is inconsistent.; March 25, 2010 8:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Trust is like an antique vase - priceless but fragile. Once broken you can never return it to its original state. Even if you try to fix it back, cracks will remain.

The cracks are definitely deepening with those poorly executed policies in the past few years.

Merlion; March 25, 2010 10:51 AM
Anonymous said...: We know we will be measured not by what we say, but by what we do.
If we don’t do what we say we will, then we’ll lose trust even further.

This is why the PAP is unfit to lead Singapore.; March 25, 2010 11:10 AM
Anonymous said...: I can't trust ntuc after what I got from buying the damned revosave.I remember i was told I would get 5% interest after the second year. Someone reviewed my policy and pointed out to me the 5% is actually the refund of my own money and not the return. How misleading the poster and i had been misled by the complicated reinvest here and there and the crap presentation.
I won't trust ntuc agent again. I I realise that it is also a rotten product.
I suggest that people who bought revosave should seek review from FISCA to know that they have been taken for ride and perhaps take the agents to MAS.; March 25, 2010 2:23 PM
Anonymous said...: There are more than a billion people in China.. including Indian middle class.. its a huge market.

Customer satisfaction?.. no need.
Customer loyalty? ... no need.
Customer feedback?.. not need.

Just sell and earn big and bigger bucks.

So what if they don't come back?

There are a billion people to go through.. by the time the first one comes back a full circle.. there is a profit of half a billion already.; March 25, 2010 3:30 PM
Anonymous said...: After the customer complained about
the NTUC revosave returns, I decided to
forgo the POSB five year investment
plan advertised in the papers. It
seems any entity affiliated to the
Govt is just untrustworthy as any
commercial ones. Would never even look at any plans taken out by NTUC
from now, would divert money overseas to Australia where there are better consumer protection.
Singapore stinks.; March 26, 2010 1:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Good advice by CEO of Pfizer.

It showed that they admitted that they have been doing misdeeds over the last few years. It is time for them to earn back the public trust.

We should all follow this good advice from the man who earned about $20 million last year and whose company is among the top 10 companies in America with the most numerous emissions sources. Thumbs up for de Man!; March 26, 2010 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...: POSB poster is also misleading and if you calculate the return is about 1.5% simple interest.The 7.38% is misleading.
Likewise ntuc 4.18% for their Growth product is misleading becuase you can NEVER get this return.High probability is only 3.5% for the risk of locking up for 10 years.
Unwary consumers who are pitched falsely might fall victims. I believe there are many victims of these products already and they should get someone to review for them whether they have been sold the right product.
This is problem of product pushing and consumers' needs are never considered. The POSB and ntuc products might not be suitable for many unwary consumers. Their trust and fear have been exploited.; March 27, 2010 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...: REX comments as follows,

To earn back public trust, the government must be able to admit mistakes and not blame the citizenry all the time.

Just take a look at the headlines what PM said. I am appalled at his mentality.
He mentioned that someone wrote a long message to him expressing disapproval of certain issues. Then he said, the English is too good, and he knew the person is Chinese Educated, cannot be writing that good english, and he implicated that such person is a stooge of someone else.

But what's the point?

Was the message correct or wrong, isn't that what should be debated?

Then, the PM, he himself is chinese ed, but his english is excellent. IT is ridiculous to say that "chinese ed cannot write good english". In the university of Life, learning opportunities are everywhere, limited only by one's own capability, not upbringing. I just can't believe it.

The Prime Minister also expressed mistrust of an old lady who sold her flat and possessions to get money. I don;t understand why this old lady is being held as an example of waywardness. I think it is possible that people are desperate, really desperate, so they have to sell. Are people so stupid and daft, that they don't even know that it is foolhardy to sell the roof over their head?

How to have trust in such kind of leadership?

REX; March 28, 2010 10:24 AM