“How are cigarette companies still allowed to exist?”
— they have no benefit to society and are the biggest cause of preventable death the world has ever seen and yet….here they are still. This thorny question inspired our new project The Addiction Economy which aims to understand what political and social systems are failing when harmful industries flourish.
SocietyInside is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. We use research and communications to show how policy and regulation can better serve the public interest and not, as it so often seems, solely the interests of companies and their shareholders.
What we do
We develop research and communications programmes, multi-stakeholder engagement initiatives and write and speak about the need to put the public interest at the heart of policy and business.
Our focus
Communication
Communication which focuses on substance, gives voice to others, is delivered in plain language and provides ‘evidence of trustworthiness’, not just superficial PR, is the focus of our approach and our advice to others
Collaboration
We use the 7 Signals of Trustworthiness from our trust research as the basis for the design of citizen and multi-stakeholder engagement, the design of practical frameworks, workshops and trustworthy collaborative processes.
Connection
Sharing ideas and creating unusual connections between people, perspectives, ideas and technologies is a great catalyst for change. We aim to do this intentionally through our research, advice, writing and public speaking.
About us
..and our partners
What People say
“Hilary uses a beautiful balance of her deep knowledge and sharp intelligence with a gracious and dogged commitment to reminding us to put the principle of building and keeping trust at the heart of all our thinking, planning, and acting in governance. My favorite thing about working with her on the WEF's agile governance council is that she's practical, pragmatic, and she gets sh*t done."
— Lisa Witter, Co-Founder of Apolitical and Co-Chair of WEF Global Future Council on Agile Governance
“Every time I meet with Hilary I learn things I didn't know, she helps me to see things from new perspectives, and I am challenged and inspired to think differently. Hilary's grasp of her subject, as well as her connections and network make her a credible voice I look to."
Simon Allison, Food Retail Innovation Professional
“SocietyInside’s work on trustworthiness and trust is outstanding. I found myself connecting the ideas it lays out to almost every situation within today’s society where trust is paramount, from communicating and engaging around science, to building a new initiative around global futures, to taking justice, equity, diversity and inclusion seriously, and to being a trusted research and education establishment.”
Professor Andrew Maynard, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Associate Dean School of Global Futures, Arizona State University
Hilary was decisive in facilitating the at times challenging processes of collective sense-making amongst heterogeneous actors in the projects we have done together. Yet, these impressive communicative skills are based on and complemented by her ability to come to grips with different and often highly complex bodies of knowledge, to identify their relevant essence and to eventually distill the key issues in an accessible and coherent way. Without doubt, involving Hilary in complex and challenging projects that need to bring together diverse perspectives is an important factor for success
Dr Ralf Lindner, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems Innovation, Head of Competence Centre for Policy and Society.
“The trust literature is broad and challenging to interpret. For most, this leads to confusion and often apathy. Hilary's work brilliantly highlights the key insights and actions leaders, practitioners and organisations can take to become trustworthy, by design.”
Nathan Kinch, Co-Founder and CEO, Greater than Experience
“Hilary was a moderator’s dream in a panel I ran on the “Politics and Ethics of Wellness” in Monaco: knowledgeable, feisty and controversial with a healthy dose of down-to-earth common sense. I follow her work with great interest.”
Piers Cumberlege, Leadership Faculty, HEC Paris
Hilary’s workshop for Apolitical - Cut the jargon: Communicate with clarity in the public service – tackled bullsh*t in public service head on! It was clear, entertaining and useful and one of our most successful of the year with 677 live participants and another 168 viewings of the recorded workshop in the month after the event. A highly recommended experience.
Helen Caldwell, Live Event Developer, Apolitical
“Hilary did the keynote address on Trust at our two day Public Interest Technology Forum. She set the tone perfectly both in terms of content – which was absolutely spot on – and style of delivery, which was fantastic.”
Melinda Cilento, CEO, Committee for the Economic Development of Australia