Small Business Owners Inspire The Highest Confidence


Who would you have more confidence in: a titan of Wall Street, or a military general, or a doctor or a small business owner?

In a recent Harris Poll survey, more people had confidence in leaders of small businesses than any other kind of leader they were asked about.

I’m not sure what this poll says more about — the reputation of small business leaders or the reputation of the other leaders. Here’s the exact breakdown:

Highest confidence in small business owners

Notice the wide variance between small business owners and the leaders of large corporations. It doesn’t take much for the highly-publicized excesses of a few in large public corporations (Enron-like collapses and take-your-breath-away CEO pay packages) to undermine confidence in the entire group.

Hat tip to Mine Your Own Business.


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Anita Campbell Anita Campbell is the Founder, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends and has been following trends in small businesses since 2003. She is the owner of BizSugar, a social media site for small businesses.

7 Reactions
  1. Anita,

    Thanks for the link! Isn’t it sad, though, that so many Americans have such low confidence in general?

  2. I’m honestly surprised that less people are confident in doctors than in small business owners. Not that SMB owners shouldn’t be trusted, but we often have to trust doctors with our lives!

    But the fact that people have such little faith in major company leaders is predictable… especially with all the white-collar crimes and embezzlement cases within large corporations.

  3. If this is so why is small business constantly ignored by federal government,state governments and local governments

  4. Hmmm, Scott, that’s an interesting perspective, that governments ignore small businesses.

    My impression is that while I can think of a dozen things I’d like to see government do for small business, on the other hand there is more attention on smaller enterprises than ever.

    Best,
    Anita

  5. Anita, there is a lot of talk about small business and its being the backbone of the economy but its just talk. The SBA has been cut more than any other agency. The EPA Energy Star Small Business program gets $500000 out of a budget of about $54 million. The subsidies for the 7A progran have been eliminated. The IRS is going after small business to solve the tax gap.
    Scott