Trust in an age of doubt
Jonathan Grigg, Partner, Foot Anstey
Jonathan Grigg, a long-term supporter of Flock, explored trust in the age of doubt, particularly within professions built on giving advice.
In his session, he shared both personal and professional insights, drawing on a story about advising his father on the family farm’s partnership and succession arrangements. Despite Jonathan’s careful legal guidance, his father ignored his advice, prompting him to ask a crucial question: why do people reject good advice?
Head of Dispute Resolution at Foot Anstey, Jonathan specialises in complex, high-value commercial disputes. He advises corporates, trustees, and professional services firms on strategic litigation, often with international dimensions.
Known for his pragmatic, solutions-led approach, he delivers clear, commercially focused guidance in high-stakes situations. His session introduced a simple but effective framework for building trust, based on three elements: competence, intent, and agency.
Competence is the adviser’s expertise and ability.
Intent is whether the client genuinely believes the adviser is acting in their best interests.
Agency is the degree of control the client feels they retain over decisions.
His session emphasised the emotional dimension of trust. People may intellectually accept that advice is correct, yet still resist it because:
- it feels unfair;
- it threatens their identity; or
- it removes their sense of control.
Being “right” is not enough; people must also feel heard, respected, and able to make their own choices.
He also explored the rise of AI and the widespread accessibility of information. Clients can now compare advice, search for alternatives online, and test their own ideas through AI tools, which makes the how of advice delivery just as important as the what.
One of his key messages was that advisers must design processes that preserve client agency by presenting options, explaining trade-offs, and framing recommendations as collaborative decisions rather than top-down instructions.
The session also examined trust in intelligent machines, highlighting data suggesting that many knowledge workers now use AI, but fewer than half consistently verify its outputs. The message was not to blindly trust or reject AI, but instead to develop “calibrated trust”: continuously testing, validating, and integrating AI as a collaborator while keeping human judgement in charge.
Core takeaway
In a world of abundant information and rapidly emerging AI, durable trust rests on three foundations:
- demonstrable competence;
- transparent and benevolent intent; and
- a deliberate effort to give people agency over decisions that affect them.