Is Trust Norway’s Most Precious Invisible Resource?

I’ve lived and worked in Norway for over 40 years as an American executive coach and corporate facilitator—long enough to see what many Norwegians may no longer notice: you live inside one of the world’s last high-trust societies. Trust here is so deeply embedded in daily life—in your contracts, institutions, healthcare, and even handshakes—that it’s become invisible. But it is not guaranteed.

Drawing on my work with global teams, cross-cultural experience, and the research of political scientist Francis Fukuyama, I’ll explore how trust functions as an invisible force that silently shapes the success of societies, businesses, teams and human relationships. Fukuyama’s research shows how high-trust societies innovate and thrive, while low-trust cultures fracture, fall into corruption, and struggle to cooperate beyond family or tribe.

We rarely think of trust as infrastructure—but that’s exactly what it is: a hidden system, like roads or power grids, that everything else depends on. When trust collapses, institutions follow. Collaboration stops. Progress reverses. Norway has long been a model of how to protect the visible—through natural resource stewardship, social safety nets, and inclusive governance. But what about the invisible?

As a grandfather to six young children, I frequently ask myself: How will I look them in the eyes and say we did everything we could to protect what matters most? This talk is both a reflection and a warning. If trust erodes here—in one of the last places it still thrives—where else can it survive? And what might it look like if Norway treated trust not only as a value, but as one of its most vital, exportable natural resources?