Introduction: On Credibility and the Restoration of Trust and Confidence

1 J. M. Kouzes and B. Z. Posner, Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It, 1st ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993), p. 34.

2 For example, see P. Paxton and J. A. Smith, “America's Trust Fall,” Greater Good Magazine, Fall 2008, pp. 14–17, accessed online at http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/americas_trust_fall on July 23, 2010. Also see D. Jacobe, “America's Confidence in Banks Not Improving,” Gallup, July 23, 2010, accessed online at www.gallup.com/poll/141545/Americans-Confidence-Banks-Not-Improving.aspx?version=print on July 23, 2010; L. Saad, “Congress Ranks Last in Confidence in Institutions,” Gallup, July 22, 2010, accessed online at www.gallup.com/poll/141512/Congress-Ranks-Last-Confidence-Institutions.aspx?version=print on July 23, 2010; “Very Few Americans Find Statements by Financial Institutions Completely Believable,” Harris Interactive, May 18, 2010, accessed online at www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/384/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx on July 23, 2010; and “Many Europeans, Especially in Britain, Have Lost Confidence in Their Elected Representatives,” Harris Interactive, June 17, 2009, accessed online at www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/HI_FinancialTimes_Harris_Poll_June_2009_17.pdf on July 23, 2010.