The Trust Recession: Listening Is the First Loss
What happens when leaders stop knowing—and growing—with their people.
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It’s easy to look at the 3,000-point drop in the stock market this week and think, “Here we go again.” But beneath the headlines and hashtags lies a deeper collapse—one not just in price, but in perceived value. What we are watching unfold is not just economic volatility. It’s the beginning of a trust recession. And trust isn’t just a nice-to-have in an economy—it’s the soil. Everything else either grows or withers from there.
Start with RKYC: Really Know Your Citizen
In my work with companies and institutions, I teach a simple but powerful idea: RKYC—Really Know Your Customer, or in this case, your citizen. It’s more than market research. It’s the practice of constantly updating your understanding of who people are, what they value, and how they decide. It means listening not just to what they say—but to what they need, fear, or hope.
Trump’s original rise was RKYC in action. He didn’t need to be liked—he needed to mirror frustrations, validate perceived betrayals, and offer simple answers to complicated pain. That emotional attunement was his superpower. It tapped into what I call the 12 Utilities—the ways people mentally score whether an experience or policy feels useful to them.
But today, he’s stopped listening. Or worse—he's only listening to himself. And it shows. The same base that once felt heard is now tossed between contradictory tariffs, broken negotiations, and policies designed more for drama than for strategy.
In RKYC terms, this is the fatal mistake: when the map of who your people are stops updating, you start governing ghosts.
The 12 Utilities: How We Measure Trust
If you’ve ever bought something, voted for something, or waited for something to arrive—you’ve used these. The 12 Utilities are how we decide if something is worth our time, money, or emotional investment. They’re rooted in behavioral economics, especially Prospect Theory, which tells us people don’t just want improvement—they want certainty of gain and protection from loss.
Let’s look at how these play out in this moment of uncertainty:
Availability: Is it even going to be there when I need it? Policy whiplash has made both goods and protections unreliable.
Access: Can I use it easily? Rising prices and broken supply chains have made access feel exclusive.
Security: Am I safe—financially, physically, psychologically? Businesses and families feel exposed.
Clarity: Do I understand what’s happening? Tariff announcements contradict hourly. People are confused.
Ease of Use: Can I act without stress? Decision-making now feels exhausting.
Accuracy: Is the information true? Conflicting data and unstable leadership degrade trust.
Speed: Does action produce results fast enough? Delays, stalls, and indecision freeze the economy.
Consistency: Will this work every time? No one knows what rules will hold next week.
Closure: Do I feel done, resolved, or completed? Promises are made, then left hanging.
Emotion Evoked: Does this experience make me feel calm, respected, or empowered? More often: anger and fear.
Resource Utility: Does it save time, money, or energy—or cost more than it’s worth? Prices rise, but stability doesn't.
Value Utility: Taking it all together—was it worth it? Increasingly, the answer is no.
Every time one of these breaks, trust takes a hit. When they all break? That’s a trust recession.
When Utility Fails, Flourishing Fades (PERMAH Decline)
To go even deeper: when these core utilities falter, we don’t just feel inconvenience. We stop flourishing. That’s where PERMAH comes in—a framework from positive psychology that describes the six essential elements of well-being:
Positive Emotion – joy, relief, peace
Engagement – being immersed in something that matters
Relationships – feeling connected to others
Meaning – believing your life has purpose
Achievement – making progress
Health – mental, emotional, physical
Right now, we’re seeing the opposite of flourishing across the board:
People feel more anxious than joyful.
They disengage—from work, politics, planning for the future.
Relationships are strained by uncertainty and polarization.
Meaning is harder to find when leaders behave as if everything is a game.
Achievement feels futile when the rules change halfway through.
Health deteriorates under prolonged economic and emotional stress.
This isn’t just bad politics. It’s bad psychology. And bad economics.
The Admiration Equation, Reversed
So what happens when people don’t just lose trust—but also lose admiration?
That’s the final piece of the puzzle: the Admiration Equation. It’s what happens when people experience such high utility and emotional depth that they want to reciprocate. In business, it’s what drives loyalty, referrals, and willingness to pay a premium. In politics, it’s what makes people rally, organize, and vote.
There are four triggers of admiration:
Skill – “They’re so good at this.”
Goodness – “They genuinely care.”
Awe – “That was amazing.”
Gratitude – “They came through for me.”
Trump once triggered these. He no longer does. Instead, people feel the opposites: suspicion, fear, and exhaustion. The admiration equation has broken down.
Skill? He contradicts himself daily. Policy appears improvised.
Goodness? His empathy radar seems off or absent.
Awe? The spectacle now feels tired. It’s shock for shock’s sake.
Gratitude? Many feel burned, not blessed. They gave him power; he gave them unpredictability.
What we have instead is emotional backlash: suspicion, fatigue, and fear.
And here’s the deeper truth: there’s a thin line between awe and fear. Awe pulls us into something bigger than ourselves. Fear repels us from it. What once felt like boldness now feels like threat. The spectacle is tired—not because it’s familiar, but because it no longer invites us into wonder. It keeps us on edge. And that edge is fraying.
So Where Do We Go From Here?
We begin again—by listening. Really knowing your citizen. Not for applause. For service. For stability. For something worth trusting.
We rebuild clarity, consistency, and closure.
We restore value by making people feel seen and supported.
We evoke awe not with bluster—but with dignity, integrity, and results.
Because trust is not a transaction. It is a transformation.
And transformation begins the moment we listen again.
Interpretation: The fractured trust between leaders and people begins when the habit of truly listening fades. This image captures that silent fracture: simple, stark, and telling.