I went to a presentation today of Edelman PR’s annual Trust Barometer. It’s a helpful gauge of how corporations, NGOs and media are seen by opinion leaders in a number of countries.

Two things I thought particularly notable were that “a person like myself” is the most credible spokesperson in most countries. Rightly, Richard Edelman, the company’s CEO, thinks this means that employee blogs can be hugely influential and trusted.

The second conclusion I liked was his advice to CEOs: “Give up control of message in favor of credibility through dialogue.”

Appropriately, Edelman himself writes a particularly good, forthright CEO blog.