Trust and transparency
June 16, 2025
Friends,
It’s been a heady and purposeful transition from spring into summer—a season marked by reflection, celebration, and a renewed sense of commitment to our shared mission of preparing principled business leaders focused on people, purpose, and long-term, collective prosperity.
In this month’s post, I want to share the thinking that shaped my remarks to the Class of 2025 at our commencement ceremonies as they crossed the threshold from students to alumni.
As dean of this remarkable college, it’s a privilege each year to celebrate our graduates on this milestone—a time for reflection on what they’ve learned, what they’ve built, and who they’ve become here at Cornell. And to look ahead with optimism—to the profound contributions they will make to the world.
Their achievements belong not only to them, but also to the families, friends, mentors, and faculty who stood behind them, and alumni who came before them—offering guidance, encouragement, and unwavering support.
As these newest graduates join the global community of Cornellians—innovators, changemakers, and principled leaders—they do so with momentum, curiosity, and a commitment to stretching the lessons they’ve learned. They will go on to build trust, shape progress, and lead with integrity. And in doing so, they make a difference—not just in their fields, but in the lives of others.
The reflections I shared at commencement are anchored in the values that guide our work today and will continue to guide the leaders we graduate tomorrow. They embody the strong feelings I have about our work.
Trust as a Cornerstone of Leadership
For the past 25 years, I’ve followed an annual study called the Edelman Trust Barometer. It’s a global survey on how much people trust governments, businesses, media, and NGOs. Edelman calls trust “the ultimate currency”—and this year’s findings are sobering.
In short, trust—earned, received and given—is in short supply today. The 2025 data show rising fear, deepening inequality, and skepticism toward leadership around the world. Many people believe the wealthy take more than their share. Many doubt the truthfulness of their institutions. And many are turning to grievance and activism to fill the vacuum left by lost faith.
While this may sound disheartening, I believe it is also a call to action. For our newly minted graduates, as well as all of us, and now. Why? Because here at Cornell, we don’t just teach strategy, finance, and operations. We teach how to lead with integrity. We teach our students to become business leaders who listen to their stakeholders—employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, community leaders, stewards of the natural environment. We teach students to ground decisions in values. And to build trust—deliberately and inclusively.
We may not say the word “trust” in every classroom, but it’s embedded in every lesson, from every faculty member, and in every aspect of responsible leadership—that deeply responsible leadership that is uniquely Cornellian. And it’s never been more important.
Lessons from Anne Chow: Leading Bigger
To see how trust is built in real leadership practice, we can look to one of our own: Anne Chow ’88, MEng ’89, MBA ’90. Over a remarkable 30-year career at AT&T, Anne rose through nearly every corner of the business—strategy, operations, international, marketing, sales—ultimately becoming CEO in 2019. She didn’t just climb the ladder. She transformed it.
Anne developed a philosophy she calls leading bigger—a belief that leadership should extend beyond roles and results to relationships and responsibility. In her book Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion, she writes about the importance of sparking connection and inspiration—with employees, customers, and communities. She trusted people to bring their full selves to work—and in return, they responded with commitment, innovation, and trust of their own.
We can look to Anne to expand our understanding of how real, durable trust is built. It’s not about control or hierarchy—it’s about listening, including, empowering. Anne’s leadership embraced diverse perspectives and expanded the decision-making lens. The result was not only stronger teams, but more resilient, values-driven outcomes.
She reminds us that trust is never abstract. It’s something we build—deliberately—by how we lead and whom we choose to include. And through that lens, Anne Chow encourages us to consider that leadership is not about size or scope. It’s about impact. About leading bigger, for the greater good.
Ratan Tata and Values-Based Capitalism
The same commitment to ethical leadership can be seen in the legacy of another great Cornellian, the late Ratan Tata ’59, BArch ’62, and former Chairman of the Tata Group.
Mr. Tata led India’s largest and most respected conglomerate from 1990 to 2012, guiding it through a period of radical economic liberalization. His leadership during the Global Financial Crisis was marked by bold moves—acquiring Jaguar Land Rover and Corus Steel at a time of immense uncertainty. These were high-stakes decisions, but what defined his leadership wasn’t just strategic risk. It was moral clarity.
Ratan Tata believed in capitalism with conscience. He embedded social responsibility into the core of Tata’s business model—not as an afterthought, but as a guiding principle. Under his leadership, over 60% of Tata Group’s profits were directed into charitable trusts focused on science, healthcare, and rural education. His model proved that profitability and philanthropy are not mutually exclusive. They can—and must—reinforce one another.
Mr. Tata’s life and legacy show that business success doesn’t have to come at the expense of trust. In fact, the most enduring companies are those built on it. Trust from communities. Trust from employees. Trust from society.
His leadership was thoughtful, principled, and profoundly human. And it reminds us: responsible leadership doesn’t just change organizations—it shapes entire societies.
Ethical Leadership in Practice: Fisk Johnson and the Plastics Paradox
Another Cornellian who exemplifies this trust-centered leadership is Fisk Johnson ’79, MEng ’80, MS ’82, MBA ’84, PhD ’86, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. Many of you know his name—not only because of his extraordinary legacy at Cornell—including the historic gift he was responsible for that gave our college its name nearly ten years ago—but because of the values he lives by in business and beyond.
Fisk Johnson holds five degrees from Cornell including an MBA from our college. Having served on our Boart of Trustees from 1993 to 2001, Fisk is a Trustee Emeritus, a Presidential Counselor, and a steward of this university’s future. But what makes his leadership so powerful is how he contends—openly and ethically—with complexity.
Last fall, he posed a challenge to our university community: What does it mean to do the right thing when the answers aren’t simple?
As CEO of a global consumer products company that relies on plastics, Fisk Johnson faces what he calls the plastics paradox—the tension between plastic’s utility and its growing environmental threat. But instead of ignoring or minimizing this reality, he’s chosen to confront it head-on. Under his leadership, SC Johnson has committed to reducing plastic waste and is actively advocating for stronger global plastics regulation.
Fisk speaks candidly about the inflection point we face. Microplastics are now found in the farthest corners of the earth—and within our own bodies. As a scientist and a diver, he understands both the data and the urgency. But as a business leader, he also sees opportunity: to innovate, to act, and to lead responsibly.
His leadership stems not from perfection, but from a deep commitment to asking—and acting on—the right questions. Questions of moral clarity and of conscience: As Ezra Cornell encouraged his son to consider, “Is it right?” As Fisk’s own father asked, “Are we meeting the expectations of our children and grandchildren?” And the logical rejoinder to those queries, “Can they believe in us to leave them a better world?” For Fisk, it’s more than a personal philosophy. It’s a test of trust—one that asks all of us to lead in ways that future generations will look back on with respect, not regret.
Trust, after all, is not built in moments of ease. It’s earned in complexity—through courage, consistency, and care.
Go forth and lead well!
In closing, I reminded our graduates that they are stepping into a volatile, complex, ambiguous world that will test them—their patience, their values, and their vision. In the face of that, I believe in their strengths as Cornellians. I believe in the education they’ve received, and in the community that has shaped them. And I believe deeply in their capacity to build trust in a world that needs it more than ever.
I encouraged them to take care of themselves and of others—and to be the leader others can count on. To be the person who listens, who includes, who builds bridges and drives progress. To know when to look to those who came before them—including, among others, the great Cornellians mentioned above—and those who walk beside them for support and advice. And to be just as prepared to offer the same when they are called upon.
