In a post-truth world – don’t trust, verify

Sharing Experience: Mark Hinds, Charles Stanley Norwich

As a wealth manager, my clients trust me with their financial futures, their retirements, their legacies and their peace of mind. In much the same way, you – as business leaders – are trusted by your clients, employees and communities to deliver value, act with integrity and navigate uncertainty.

But in a world where trust is both essential and increasingly fragile, it’s worth asking: how do we protect trust?

Trust is not the same as truth, nor a guarantee of being right. In fact, history is littered with examples of misplaced trust: in institutions, in leaders, in systems that promised stability but ultimately delivered volatility.

“Trust the science”, “trust the experts”, “trust the system” – these mantras have all too often proven to be more aspirational than accurate.

Well-intentioned incentives can often distort the original purpose and aims of a government, business or supranational body. This can lead to situations where trust for an institution is held blindly and unquestionably. And if we rely too heavily on trust, we risk not holding institutions and individuals to account when they provide false information – whether on purpose or unknowingly.

This is where the principle of ‘don’t trust, verify’ might be helpful. It’s a mantra that underpins the bitcoin protocol and the broader decentralised finance movement; a response to the perceived unsustainability of our current financial system.

By removing the need for trust in central authorities and replacing it with transparent, verifiable systems, we may be witnessing the early stages of a profound shift – the separation of money from the state. Of course, there are plenty of incentives within the existing arrangement that might have something to say on any adoption of such ideas.

A safeguard for all

In a post-truth world – where text, photos and even videos can be manipulated – the ability to verify is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity. Those who can verify should verify. We must learn to trust ourselves more; to question, to investigate and to think critically. Not only to protect ourselves, but also to help safeguard and strengthen the whole system so that those more vulnerable can still rely on trust.

Trust when earned is incredibly powerful. But when assumed, it can be downright dangerous.

As we navigate this era of rapid change and digital disruption, perhaps the most responsible path forward isn’t to abandon trust, but to demand sufficient ‘proof of work’ to verify that trust remains earned and justified.

The value of investments, and the income derived from them, can fall as well as rise. Investors may get back less than invested. Charles Stanley is a trading name of Raymond James Wealth Management Limited, which is a member of the London Stock Exchange, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is part of the Raymond James Financial, Inc. group of companies.