Seven Qualities of Credible People
To be successful, any leader must be credible. But what does credibility even mean? It’s simple: credible leaders are believable and trustworthy. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer survey indicates that the ONLY institution trusted globally in our turbulent times is BUSINESS – especially small business. Credibility might seem an easy attribute to have, but, at least according to Edelman, it is in very short supply these days.
Tune in this week as Wayne offers seven qualities of credible people and wraps up with a bit of wisdom from the great Dan Sullivan. What works – or has failed to work – in your experience? Perhaps you have worked for bosses in the past that weren’t credible at all or somehow lost their credibility. Please share your experiences with us in the comments.
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Hi. This is Wayne Rivers at FBI where We Build Better Contractors.
This week I want to talk about seven qualities of credible people. It just sounds so simple. I mean, we just think about that.
Gosh, am I credible? I'm sure I am. No worries. But what does credible even mean? So credible is simply believable and
trustworthy. Are you believable and trustworthy? If you are, you're a credible person. This comes from leadership now in
March of '23. And by the way, don't forget about our Denver bootcamp coming up in August of this year. Contact Charlotte
for more information. Now, what about this is important to you? Well, golly, you can't be an effective leader unless you're
believable and trustworthy and therefore credible.
So, there's this annual study that comes out called the Edelman Trust Barometer, and the 2023 version came out, and the
world is a rapidly changing place these days, no doubt. The only institution trusted globally is business, especially small
business, only. People don't trust the media. People don't trust Congress. People don't trust all kinds of professions.
Businesspeople are perceived to be credible, and that's the only cohort that that receives that credibility score worldwide.
So, Barry Posner has written a new book called Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It. So, he's got seven points on
what constitutes credibility. The first thing is competence. Well, that makes sense. If you can't do your job, how can you
be a credible leader? The thing about competence is that depending on the viewpoint of other parties, they evaluate
credibility different. So, if you're a manager and you have a boss, the boss generally evaluates your credibility based on
your job performance. If you have people reporting to you, your direct reports view credibility differently. They view
credibility based on your communication skills. So, the point is that credibility is defined differently depending on who's
doing the defining. Okay.
Second thing, they keep their word. I mean, basic honesty has got to be a piece of it, but it's more than that. It's doing
what you say you're going to do, doing what you say you're going to do. So, throwing away these comments, next week
I'm going to do this, and next month we're going to do that with basically no capability of executing those intentions, that
is a non-starter.
The third thing, credible leaders hold themselves accountable and they hold other people accountable. And that sounds
harsh, doesn't it? Like the hammer's going to come down. Punishment. They hold people accountable in two ways, not
just for things that they do wrong, but for things that people do. So an appreciation. I heard somebody say, catch
somebody doing something right? Instead of catch somebody doing something wrong. That makes a lot of sense in terms
of building credibility in their organization.
The fourth thing, they connect with others. They go beyond the golden rule. And I've heard speakers refer to this as the
platinum rule. Don't do unto others as you like to be done, do unto others as they want you to do. In other words, it goes
beyond that because different personality types have different wishes for human contact and conversation and coming
into the office uninvited. People are different, and so deliver to people what they want delivered and you'll be more
credible.
The fifth thing is care. They credible leaders genuinely care about other people's wellbeing and their best interests. Sixth
thing, they're open to new ideas irrespective of where the ideas come from. So, it's not always senior leaders with the
greatest ideas, is it? Sometimes the greatest ideas bubble up from other parts of your organization. And the seven thing,
credible leaders know that when they screw up, they have to say so and they have to take corrective action. So, I think
that makes a lot of sense, you might say.
I remember being in a strategic coach class ages ago, and this has always stuck with me. Dan Sullivan had four simple
things for being credible, and I think this gets to Posner's book and also the article that I read, but it was so simple. One,
say please and thank you. Be polite to other people. Two, show up on time for everything. Don't make other people wait
for you. Third thing, we've already said this. Do what you say you're going to do. And the fourth thing, finish the things
you start. I think Dan Sullivan is a genius, and I think he nailed it ages ago. If you do those four things along with the other
things that we discussed here, I think you'll be a credible leader.
So, what do you think? What constitutes credibility for you? What makes for a credible leader? Share with us in the
comments. This is Wayne Rivers at FBI, where We Build Better Contractors.
