Restoring Trust
The pandemic-stricken year of 2020 highlights the role trust plays in social interaction and community cohesion. Specifically, 2020 illuminated the scarcity of trust in this broken world and the importance of trust in our personal walks with Christ. As Scripture states: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.” (New International Version, Isaiah 26:3-4) On a personal level, the events of 2020 deepened my understanding of this and similar passages and emboldened me to change directions and begin applying the hard-earned lessons I have learned as an entrepreneur and operator to my new position as a private equity investor. This new direction affords the opportunity to come alongside like-minded investors, entrepreneurs, and operators to cultivate glimpses of the trusted, transparent interactions God intends for us in commerce and social interaction.
From the outset of 2020, those of us living in America found ourselves amidst a crisis of trust in our institutions. For more than three years, the media—representing both sides of the political spectrum—had sowed distrust in statements made by our political leaders and the institutions that regulated our way of life, and (in the wake of the confusion brought about by the COVID19 pandemic) this distrust extended to pillars of science and medicine. With the death of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and many other black Americans came the reminder of the deep-rooted distrust in law enforcement felt by black communities. By 2020’s conclusion, the bedrock of our democratic way of life—our electoral process—found itself distrusted by large swathes of the population as well.
On a professional level, I found this breakdown in trust particularly unnerving as I had spent the majority of my career building companies, developing technologies, and innovating methods that promote transparency and enable trusted interactions. While the pandemic raged and trust degraded, I continued my service as the head of strategy for a government contractor charged with enabling “individuals to establish their identity authoritatively and enable authorities to verify that identity indisputably.” I have long considered this God-inspired work as it offers a glimpse into our intended, original reality where “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (New International Version, Genesis 2:25) Yet the events of 2020 offered a stark reminder that sin acts at a much deeper level than mere individual shame, extending to cultural biases that permeate society and warp even the most well-intentioned social and commercial interaction.
By the end of the year, God called me to leave my role as an operator to make an outsized impact as an investor addressing this loss in genuine human interaction. The investment thesis of the practice area that I now lead summarizes the opportunity and hope I see for sincere interactions on the other side of the “great reset”: Infrastructure technology enabling a more just world by promoting trust and transparency in all of our dealings. This investment category runs the gamut of identification & authentication, secure communication, bias detection, and privacy protection. It is applied in more traditional eCommerce marketplaces and is increasingly relevant in emerging industries such as those employing cryptocurrencies and the blockchain. It seeks to address fundamental problems faced by government, commerce, education, religion, and individual stakeholders, with roots tracing back to the very first chapter of mankind’s story.
The recent zeitgeist around cryptocurrencies and the blockchain illustrates this point. In its purest form, the blockchain represents a technological reversion to Eden-like transparency where all transactions are immutable and publicly proclaimed. Certain adherents are quick to point out that many instantiations of the blockchain are also intended to ensure complete anonymity and privacy, with exchanges that disavow the need for Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes and eschew regulatory oversight. These same currencies and exchanges quickly invite debates over use by organized crime and nation states to launder money and purchase illicit goods, citing sensational examples where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become the remuneration of choice by hackers. In this sense, the evolution of the blockchain serves as an analog to the evolution of human society where what was intended to be transparent and pure seeks cover in the face of its brokenness and shame, creating ideal conditions for sin to fester and distrust to sow.
And yet, conversation around a reimagined future from a Gospel-inspired perspective is largely absent from this and so many tangential debates. At the same time that protests are quashed in Hong Kong while the Black Lives Matter movement is protected by the government in the United States, there is very little debate in Christian circles around the appropriate use of surveillance technologies, predictive sentencing algorithms, etc. As cyber-attacks disrupt critical infrastructure and money is openly laundered through unregulated currencies, there is precious little consideration to how these are very natural second order effects of new technologies and new marketplaces being brought into existence by sin-marred mankind. As cryptocurrencies become mainstream and government authorities wrestle with regulatory policy, there are few devout industry leaders to call on for guidance around how to strike the balance between spurring innovation and curtailing corruption.
These are but a short list of the subcategories under trust and transparency that I look forward to coming together with fellow Christian investors, entrepreneurs, and dreamers to reimagine in light of the Gospel’s promise. They represent forums where Christian voices must be heard to ensure a balance is struck between what was intended and what is. Christians have a unique perspective rooted in our steadfast faith in Christ that allows us to apply “already, but not yet” theology to the regulation and policy reform necessitated by new technical realities. Moreover, Christian investors, entrepreneurs, and operators have the calling to foster marketplaces, technologies, and enterprises that can take root and thrive in secular industry by drawing upon the ultimate Source of truth and strength. As it is written:
“In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
(New International Version, 1 John 5:3-5)
Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s Global Event.