Interaction Associates Chief Innovation Officer Andy Atkins Named Among Top Thought Leaders in Workplace Trust by Trust Across America

BOSTON – February 12, 2014 – The 4th annual list of top thought leaders around trust and business is out from Trust Across America-Trust Around the World (TAA-TWA) and list this year features Interaction Associates Chief Innovation Officer, Andy Atkins among the group of global experts making extensive and positive contributions to building trust in organizations globally.

“The honorees are inspiring organizations to look more closely at their higher purpose…to create greater value for, and trust from, all of their stakeholders,” said Barbara Kimmel, executive director, Trust Across America – Trust Around the World. “They understand that building trust is an imperative to leveraging real business gains,” she added.

Interaction Associates specializes in helping organizations build trust internally to drive business performance. The firm’s leading workplace research tracking trust and leadership at hundreds of global companies shows a strong connection between financial health and the leadership, culture, and actions in organizations. Interaction Associates also offers trust assessments and development for organizations seeking to improve their internal trust scores.

“The Top 100 honor is a huge validation for our work around trust and, specifically, Andy’s emergence as a major voice on workplace trust,” said Linda Stewart, CEO of Interaction Associates. “Workplace trust is fast emerging across the business spectrum as a key component for driving strong business results – and it’s gratifying to see how our expertise in this area is validated by global clients and important organizations like Trust Across America,” Stewart added.

TAA-TAW provides a framework for organizations to improve trustworthy practices, as well as showcasing individuals and organizations that are exhibiting high levels of trust and integrity.

The Top 100 honorees hail from around the globe and include leaders from the public and private sectors as well as authors, consultants, researchers and academics. Other Top 100 honor winners include Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm, and Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks.

Andy Atkins was featured recently in a segment on Voice America, the radio show syndicated by Trust Across America. Andy Atkins joined Charles Feltman, author of “The Thin Book of Trust,” to share practical moves leaders can make to build trust in their organizations. They addressed three critical areas for developing high trust:
1. how leaders can create environments that support different levels of risk sensitivity;
2. how to shift from a sole focus on downside vulnerability (what I can lose) to making realistic risk assessments; and
3. the important role emotion plays in developing trust.

The full trust-building conversation can be accessed here.

About Interaction Associates
Interaction Associates (IA) is a 44-year innovator that equips people to work better together in order to realize superior business results. The firm helps global organizations build high-involvement, collaborative cultures. IA’s clients achieve a new measure of ROI – Return on Involvement – where employees go “beyond engagement” to share responsibility for business success. IA offers customized consulting, learning and development, and coaching services all over the world, and was named was named one of Training Industry’s top 20 Training Companies 2012-2014. For more info: http://www.interactionassociates.com.