Smart CEOs Should Be Begging for Stricter Regulations

John Gilfeather knows more about corporate reputation than most, having spent a lifetime in the reputation research business, so when he says "I have never seen this level of vitriol aimed at larger corporations" it's time for corporate communicators to pay attention.

Gilfeather's latest survey of corporate reputation turns up the finding that most Americans now think most corporations are "idiots"--a catch-all term they use to describe a pattern of behavior that combines arrogance, greed and secrecy.

Meanwhile, another recent survey by economists at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University found that just 26 percent of Americans say they trust the American financial system, and 45 percent think the stock market will drop by 30 percent or more in the next 12 months.

When trust is so low, there are real consequences for financial companies, and the Chicago survey provides plenty of guidance about what needs to be done to restore confidence: 59 percent of respondents want stronger regulation of the financial sector.

And yet most companies continue to lobby intensely against stronger regulation. Most on Wall Street seem to consider the toothless regulatory package approved by Congress two weeks ago too much. One CEO complained of "an increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation" and lambasted an administration that is "reaching into every sector of American life" and "making it harder to raise capital and create new businesses."

A New York Times op-ed by investment banker and Clinton administration veteran Roger Altman makes the case that President Obama has a pretty good record when it comes to business (while arguing that the administration could do more).

But the reality is that most of the wounds that have caused American business to hemorrhage trust are entirely self-inflicted. And if smart CEOs want to heal those wounds, rather than pass the buck, they should be begging for even stricter government oversight.