Leadership Rises and Falls on Credibility

Both managers and leaders are charged with getting things done. How they get things done is one of the key contrasts between managing and leading.

Managers always occupy some slot in the organizational chart. As a result, they have what I call positional authority that allows them to compel compliance with what they want done.

Leaders, however, do not always have positional authority. It's common to find people within an organization who hold no managerial title, but whose judgment and expertise are so respected that a following gathers around them. They man be described in a variety of ways. As opinion leaders. As thought leaders. As subject matter experts.

Whatever our name for them, they have the ability to make a telling impact on how the organization functions and the kind of culture it spawns. And they exert this influence, not because they have any power to compel, but because they have telling influence.

The source of this influence is credibility. Without it, no one can lead. And credibility, in turn, rests on three considerations: the leader's character, the leader's competence, and the leader's ability to achieve desired concrete results.

This podcast takes up these three considerations and examines how they contribute to optimizing a leader's credibility.

A transcript of the program is available through the index at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes.

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