lessons in corporate credibility – with thanks to Dave Bowie
David Bowie was a master in so many ways. He taught us all so much, yet one lesson has been the epitome of his life, well beyond any of the tunes, flamboyant costumes and characters he embodied. ‘Credibility’ was that one lesson, and needless to say, David was the paragon of ‘credibility’ in both life and death!
‘Do what you say you will do’ would be a fitting catch phrase for David’s life.
- ‘I don’t know where I’m going, but it sure wont be boring’
- We were never disappointed!
- ‘I want to be Ziggy, and he became Ziggy’
- We learnt to believe through his sense of conviction!
- ‘Sometimes I feel like I don’t want to be human’; I want to be super human!
- It was clear he made the impossible possible.
What David said, he did; in life, and in death. People never doubted him and always knew what to expect. They trusted he would never let them down, as his essence for a godly and almost galaxy-like knack for re-invention was so strong!
Could there be a comparison alongside corporate leaders here?
Do you:
- Personify values and always remain consistent with them
- Do what you say you will do
- Communicate a vision that brings hope and consistently work towards it
- Do what you say you will do
- Challenge and focus when something may appear impossible
- Do what you say you will do
- Assist others to be on board, and help them be drivers alongside you
- Do what you say you will do
- Recognize and reward when small wins have been achieved?
- Do what you say you will do
If so, people will trust you, will choose to willingly give you their time and effort and will be there for you whenever you need. Perhaps, just perhaps, David Bowie’s legacy, that of the role of credibility, doing what you say you will do, will be immortalized through your organization!
