We are living in an era of backlash against authority. So far, government and the media have borne the brunt of populist anger, while businesses have remained above the fray. Past protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street notwithstanding, mass outrage has yet to be directed squarely at the business elite. But there are signs that this is changing.

For 17 years the Edelman Trust Barometer has surveyed tens of thousands of people across dozens of countries about their level of trust in business, media, government, and NGOs. This year was the first time the study found a decline in trust across all four of these institutions. In almost two-thirds of the 28 countries we surveyed, the general population did not trust the four institutions to “do what is right” — the average level of trust in all four institutions combined was below 50%.

How Is the Edelman Trust Barometer Measured? This is Edelman’s 17th annual trust and credibility survey. The survey was done by research firm Edelman Intelligence and consisted of 25-minute online interviews conducted on October 13 – November 16, 2016. The online survey sampled more than 33,000 respondents in 28 countries consisting, for each country, of 1,150 general population respondents ages 18 and over and 500 “informed public” respondents in the U.S. and China and 200 informed public respondents in all other countries. The survey defined an “informed public” respondent as having the following criteria: ages 25-64, college-educated; household income in the top quartile for their age in their country; read or watch business/news media at least several times a week; follow public policy issues in the news at least several times a week.

We also discovered a staggering lack of confidence in leadership: 71% of survey respondents said government officials are not at all or somewhat credible, and 63% said the same about CEOs. The credibility of CEOs fell by 12 points this year, to 37% globally. By comparison, 60% of respondents trusted “a person like yourself” — on a par with trust in a technical expert or an academic.

These results should be deeply troubling for executives, since “business” writ large has been viewed relatively favorably in Western societies. Indeed, even in this survey business was the second most trusted of the four institutions, just one point behind NGOs. (Government was the least trusted institution, and media, taking its biggest ever year-on-year hit, and is now distrusted in 82% of the countries we surveyed.)

In absolute terms the results are troubling for business. Just 52% of respondents to our survey said they trust business to do what is right. In 13 out of 28 countries, business was distrusted and respondents were eager for greater business reform, including potentially more policies hostile to businesses’ license to operate. For example, 82% of respondents said that the pharmaceutical industry needs greater regulation.

Perhaps most concerning, business is adding to people’s fears and fueling distrust. In the survey 60% of the general population worried about losing their jobs due to the impacts of globalization. Half said that globalization is taking society in the wrong direction, and 53% said the pace of change in business and industry is moving too fast.

All of this is a clarion call to the business community. Will business leaders continue to focus solely on their companies’ financial performance, believing that to be their primary responsibility, or will they look to engage externally in order to strengthen their permission to operate?

Despite broad distrust of business, there are high expectations for business to do more — a potential opening to turn the tide of public opinion. Three-quarters of people agreed that “a company can take specific actions that both increase profits and improve the economic and social conditions in the community where it operates.” According to our respondents, the best ways business can build trust in a better future are to pay fair wages, offer better benefits, and create more jobs. The fastest ways businesses can erode trust are to bribe government officials, pay outsize compensation to senior management, and avoid taxes.

Smart leaders, as the adage goes, will not let this crisis in confidence go to waste. They will see that a reordering of the communications paradigm that began to shift 20 years ago with the emergence of the internet has solidified in the last few years as social media has taken hold. People experimented, engaged, and then committed to their mobile devices as the primary conduit through which they connect, learn, and live much of their lives. This has changed the way they interact with almost everything, including businesses.

Nimble business leaders will recognize that in this new world they cannot operate with a top-down approach. Rather, a flatter, more participatory model is needed, one that isn’t just “for the people” but “with the people.” The best companies are already deeply listening to and strategically acting on insights from their employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

Rebuilding trust is a shared responsibility. Each institution must find its own ways to address societal concerns by working to improve the long-term economic and social conditions of communities; by creating public forums that educate about and advocate for policies; and by directly communicating the benefits of economic growth that is driven by industry.

The recent collapse of trust in government and media should serve as a powerful lesson to business of what can happen when institutions become disconnected from the interests and opinions of the people they serve. Executives have been warned — their customers and the population at large will be watching closely.