We live in a data-driven world — a time when data and analytics drive our decisions, innovation and progress, not just for businesses, but for employees and consumers as well. We are using data more often and intuiting less when we have choices to make. We embrace the power of information to shape various aspects of our lives, by reading reviews, looking at the probability of a desired result and then choosing based on the numbers.

As a society, we also know data can get tricky. Data can be manipulated to support the case, make the pitch or drive the narrative we want, rather than being shared objectively without bias. Many of us may feel a push-pull when it comes to trusting data. We know we need data to make decisions and create better outcomes, but we also may not know how to trust it sometimes.

Financial markets have overcome this trust gap in many ways. Financial data shared is inherently trusted because of regulation, transparency and standards. But in other areas, like climate and AI — areas that can also have a big impact on our society — it might feel more difficult to trust data. How do organizations close that trust gap and build and maintain the stakeholder trust critical to advancing the work?

Prioritize trust as part of value creation

Above all else, prioritize trust to create value across the business. Prioritizing trust could look like leading with transparency or making strategic moves that put “the long game” above short-term profitability.

Pricing, for example, is an area where the trust gap is widening, and leaders can work on closing that gap through transparency. When the justifications for rising prices begin to taper (e.g., costs, supply chain complexity), businesses should be more discerning and open about pricing with their stakeholders.

Consumers also crave transparency when something goes wrong. Is the company owning up to the action and issue, and then engaging consumers on what the path forward looks like? If executives can build trust during good times, it will pay off with customers when that trusted brand or organization goes through challenging times or moves into new territories to reinvent their business and fuel growth — a strategic move many businesses face in today’s environment. For businesses who get this right, they will see that trust can be portable, and thus profitable.

Show consumers and employees how their data is safeguarded

Sometimes there is a cloud of uncertainty that follows data for consumers — particularly regarding how their own data is safeguarded. Understanding privacy is important for employees and consumers around AI and technology, but in other areas as well.

Data from PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey show that closing the trust gap means finding the balance between experience and an unwavering commitment to privacy. According to the survey, employees and consumers are concerned with data privacy policies — 89% of employees and 88% of consumers say this information is important for companies to disclose. Compare this to the surprisingly low 32% of executives who say their companies do so.

The way to build trust is through engagement — proactively and transparently connecting with your consumers and employees on how you are prioritizing data protection. As your strategy and technology evolves, the trust you built will make your stakeholders more likely to move forward with you.

Draw conclusions from data with humility

Making data-driven decisions often feels good — when the numbers reveal that a business or offering is driving desired outcomes, it is easy to feel confident. With AI and other technology, we can often draw mathematical conclusions faster that support our own agenda or beliefs.

But at this rapid pace of discovery, are we still leaving room for alternative explanations of the data? Even in a data-driven world, there are multiple sides to the story. As leaders and managers of teams, we should create space for varying interpretations of a common data set. This approach matters for decisions of all sizes.

If you engage in the big societal and business issues we face today without the humility and social perspective that there can be a diverse set of explanations, you risk losing stakeholder trust from leaning into one perspective too hard. Drawing unilateral conclusions can give the impression that data has been manipulated and thus the author is not trustworthy — this of course widens the trust gap between you and stakeholders and may prevent barriers to value creation or engagement down the road.

If stakeholders trust a business’ data, then there are tremendous opportunities for growth using AI and playing a role in areas like climate change. Recognizing this opportunity will take engagement, transparency and humility — the human efforts that will help drive progress.