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Truth #2 – Credibility Is The Foundation of Leadership

If leadership begins with a belief in yourself, then leadership continues only if other people believe in you. All of the leadership ideas, books, blogs, audios, seminars, and websites are meaningless unless people believe in the people who are supposed to follow believe in the person who is supposed to lead. The truth is that credibility is the foundation of leadership. This truth is inescapable!

Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow. You cannot have one with the other.

Leadership strategies, tactics, skills and practices are empty without an understanding of the fundamental dynamics of this relationship. In every relationship people have expectations of each other. Sometimes these expectations are voiced and others times they are subtle. To understand this dynamic there has been an ongoing research that started in 1980 to the present, attempting discover what followers expect of their leaders. Year after year the results have remained the same with only slight variations of order. Keep in mind the chart below has survived the rotary dial telephone through our modern digital age and yet we still are looking for the same things in a leader.

The respondents from six continents were asked to select seven characteristics. While each characteristic received some votes what is the most striking is that only four have received continually an average of over 60% of the votes. Before anyone is going to willing follow you as a leader they want to know that you are honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent. In other words before people are going to voluntarily heed your advise, take your direction, accept your guidance, trust your judgment, support your ideas, or implement your strategies people expect you to measure up to these four criteria.

Consider the essence of these four characteristics.

• Being Honest – This obviously means telling the truth and having ethical principles and clear standards by which you live your life.
• Being Forward–Looking – This implies that you have a sense of direction and a concern for the future of the organization. Understand that it is not just about the vision of the organization, but does your vision align with the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those who are following.
• Being Inspired – Do you have a genuine and excitement about future possibilities? Your energy signals your personal commitment. Your optimism signals your hope about tomorrow. You have to give people a reason that their past does not hinder their tomorrows.
• Being Competent – This implies that you have a track record and an ability to get things done. People have to believe that you know what you are talking about.

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!