Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler ( photo ) won praise in the U.K. yesterday for lecturing his fellow executives about public trust. “At last an executive that gets it,” the Telegraph reported after Kindler’s speech at the annual conference of CBI, Britain’s biggest business lobby. Just what did Kindler say? Essentially, that executives need to get to work on revamping capitalists’ reputation–even if their companies didn’t play a role in tarnishing that rep. Companies have to do something to combat public anger or government might do it for them, he said. “If we fail to change, things will not be pretty,” Kindler said (as quoted by the Telegraph ). “And if you think you’re exempt, you’re wrong.” People think that “questionable ethics are the norm” and that “doing the right thing is considered quaint,” Kindler said.