Stephen M. R. Covey on Tour: New York Times Bestselling Author of The Speed of Trust to Speak on “Restoring Trust in Our Communities and Organizations,” Hosted by Franklin Covey

The Speed of Trust Author, Stephen M. R. Covey, Makes Rare Appearances at Franklin Covey Community-Wide Events in 29 Cities in the U.S. and Canada

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE:FC), a global company specializing in performance improvement, today announced that it will host The Speed of Trust Tour, featuring Stephen M. R. Covey, the New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything.

“Trusting people in this type of environment is indeed risky”

Covey will make rare appearances at the Franklin Covey community-wide events in 29 cities in the U.S. and Canada, March 7 through May 17, 2013. He will also participate in live webinars for those who cannot attend a live event in their city.

Invited to attend are representatives from leading organizations in each city, including business, government, education, civic, community leaders and the media. The cost to attend a live three-and-a-half-hour Franklin Covey community-wide event or a one-hour live webinar is $49 per person. For a list of dates and cities or to register, visit www.franklincovey.com/trusttour.

Stephen M. R. Covey’s presentation will advocate the return of trust in American and Canadian organizations in both the profit and not-for-profit sectors, extending beyond the dialogue on trust as a soft, social virtue. He will give attendees a greater vision of trust as a measurable, strategic advantage as well as share the behaviors and tools common to all high-trust leaders around the world. He will also teach how to extend “Smart Trust”, even in environments where risk exists.

Recent media coverage has documented the tremendous drop in trust in business and government over the last year. The 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that an alarming 85% of the general public in the U.S. do not trust business leaders to tell the truth when confronted with a difficult issue. And, 82% do not trust their government leaders.

“Trusting people in this type of environment is indeed risky,” said Stephen M. R. Covey. “But even in a historically low-trust marketplace, there are still people and organizations in both the public and private sector that are trusted and are enjoying significant success. High-trust organizations return three times the total return to shareholders than organizations with low trust. And, high-trust schools are four times more likely to raise test scores than low-trust schools. Trusted organizations will continue to have a strong competitive edge, a growing market share, and the continued loyalty of their employees, customers, and constituents.”

Stephen M. R. Covey is a sought-after advisor and keynote speaker on trust, leadership, ethics, and high performance and has presented at leading conferences in 40 countries, receiving high marks for his style, substance, and the relevance of his insights on trust. He is the former CEO of Covey Leadership Center, which, under his stewardship, became the largest leadership-development company in the world. He led the strategy that propelled his father’s book, Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, to be one of the two most influential business books of the 20^th century, according to Chief Executive magazine.

Stephen M. R. Covey currently leads Franklin Covey’s Global Speed of Trust Practice and has led C-suite level executive sessions on trust for many of the world’s largest companies and Fortune 50, such as AT&T, Walmart, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, General Motors, State Farm, as well as UnitedHealthcare, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, JetBlue, Frito-Lay, Marriott International Inc., and many other industry-leading organizations. Under his direction, Franklin Covey developed a state of the art, multi-media training course, Leading at the Speed of Trust™, which has proven effective in hundreds of top organizations worldwide.

For more information, please visit www.franklincovey.com/trusttour.com.

About Franklin Covey

Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE: FC) is a global company specializing in performance improvement. We help organizations achieve results that require a change in human behavior. Our expertise is in seven areas: leadership, execution, productivity, trust, sales performance customer loyalty and education. Franklin Covey clients have included 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. Franklin Covey has more than 40 direct and licensee offices providing professional services in over 140 countries. For more information, visit www.franklincovey.com.