When the World Economic Forum opens in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, an unexpected source will be offered to the thousands of business and political leaders on how to restore trust — the Bible.
“Leaders are always in search of good ideas,” said Princeton University professor David W. Miller, a first-time Davos speaker who will offer 12 “Abrahamic traditions” to increase trust.
“It’s not about religiosity. It’s about wisdom,” he said in an interview.
His list, co-authored with Princeton research scholar Michael J. Thate, offers lessons that taken together, or individually, can help leaders bridge the trust gap.
“Talk of trust in both theological and everyday language is an invitation to reflect on a breakdown of trust and the possibility of its repair,” they wrote. “Lost trust cannot be recovered. It must be built anew.”
Miller said any person or group that suffered from a trust deficit could be helped. “Can you trust the Houston Astros now?” he said, adding in the government and Roman Catholic Church.
“I do think of this as a beginning. To use a baseball analogy, it’s the first inning or a preseason game,” he said of his efforts, part of the university’s “Faith & Work Initiative.”
