In This Age of Fake News, Trust Is Everything
Here is some information for a person who works in a profession that is at the bottom of the ethical standard in America. Advertising practitioners just barely edge out used car salespeople and members of Congress.
Gallup annually takes a pulse of the most trusted professions in America. Gallup also asked U.S. adults which institutions they trust the most. Surprisingly, the military is at the top, followed by my favorite group, small business.
The professions that have the highest honesty and ethical standards are:
- Nurses
- Military officers
- Grade school teachers
- Medical doctors
- Pharmacists
You can tell from that list that the U.S. is getting older, with 3 of the top 5 medically related. According to Gallup, “More than 8 in 10 Americans describe nurses’ ethics as “very high” or “high.” In contrast, about 6 in 10 Americans rate members of Congress and lobbyists as “very low” or “low” when it comes to honesty and ethical standards.
So instead of picking that crazy celebrity, select a military officer nurse who teaches grade school kids about medicine and pharmaceuticals. Seriously, a celebrity compared to a nurse? There’s no question who America believes and trusts.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.