An appreciation of credibility can deepen when comparing it to watching television. Relaxing in front of a television while noticing the actor’s mouth is moving yet the words are heard 2 seconds later is enough to make me jump out of my chair and turn the set off; it’s just not serving in the way I expect it to. Similarly, when the opposite occurs with visual and the audio being in sync, I trust the television unit, the actors, the show and all that it encompasses.  The former example is fraught with a lack of credibility, yet the latter exudes credibility.

According to Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, co-authors of The Leadership Challenge®, as the world falls deeper into economic downturns and conflicts, as communities become more heatedly partisan and as many workplaces show growing signs of disengagement, issues of credibility remain front and central.

 Credibility is the currency of effective leadership. Currencies stay strong when the market is active, the environment is robust, and the people are confident. Currencies weaken when the market weakens, becomes inconsistent and people have no idea what the future holds. In times of turbulence and change, leaders create psychological safety, wellness and stability through the virtue of credibility.

Ponder:

1. When have you said one thing, and done another?
2. Why did you feel that was acceptable? (Remember: others deposit or withdraw from their ‘trust’ account based on your actions)
3. On a daily basis, how often do you check your ‘credibility balance’, and if decreasing, how proactive are you in turning that around?

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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!

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