In this episode, we explore one of the most overlooked yet consequential risks shaping the business landscape in 2026 — the erosion of social bonds and collapse of trust. What begins as a sociological trend now extends deep into corporate risk, driving political polarisation, workplace conflict, and consumer fragmentation.

We discuss how decades of atomisation, the decline of community life, and the rise of identity politics have transformed social cohesion into a strategic variable for business. From Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone to Edmund Burke’s “little platoons”, we trace how the weakening of shared institutions has reshaped both civic and corporate environments — and why brands and executives now find themselves pulled into cultural disputes that were once confined to the political sphere.