‘Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.’
Henry Ford, American industrialist
When asked how you would define beauty, you might feel as able to do so as you would if you had been asked to dissect a soap bubble. The commonest answer is usually along the lines, of ‘I know it when I see it.’
The concept of beauty has had different meanings in different eras. Ancient philosophers give it a moral slant – ‘What is beautiful is good,’ says Plato. Poets are similarly lofty – ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ wrote Keats, although Anatole France thought of beauty as ‘more profound than truth itself’. The definition of feminine physical beauty has also evolved over time, from the curvaceous and lavish pale beauties of the nineteenth century to the painfully thin models of the noughties.
The concept of credibility is, to some extent, similar to the concept of beauty – you know it when you see it. Credibility is what makes a person a long-lasting leader. It is rooted in what others expect from a leader – ‘others’ here being a diverse group of stakeholders (teams, peers, bosses), each with specific filters and each with ever-changing expectations.
Establishing credibility and maintaining it is essential. How is it possible, though, to please so many and meet such different demands? How can anyone truly build unquestionable credibility?
The secret is to work at simultaneously developing the following three elements:
Ensuring that you get the right experience boils down to one thing: adequate career management. This is usually done by defining what is the right experience for what you want to achieve. You will generally need to be exposed to the top three or four well-recognised skills and character-building events, as appropriate for your organisation. It requires you to be crystal clear on your intent, proactive in looking for opportunities to be stretched and willing to confidently grasp any unusual or difficult assignments thrown your way. Finally, to accelerate your career path, differentiating and adjusting to ever-changing market trends is key.
Some 80 per cent of leaders would tell you that you mostly develop by means of ‘on-the job’ activities and this is the best way for you to gain experience. The ‘right’ experience for you is that which caters for and meshes harmoniously your needs as a professional with the needs of your organisation. This might be defined as a range of skills acquired via diverse experiences where you have been successful. It allows you to move beyond your comfort zone and learn and develop both your technical and interpersonal skills. It is experience that takes you one step closer to your objectives (what you want to achieve) and is aligned with what your organisation needs you to know in order to fulfil a role. It is experience that would add to your credibility within your area’s or corporation’s culture.
Jack Welch has always been a huge advocate of experience and learning on the job, pushing this to another level with the concept of stretch.
One of his fundamental leadership concepts is to build leaders up by putting them through different and diverse experiences – ‘Push them up the rank, never let them rest’ is one of Welch’s maxims. In General Electric, the average tenure in one position for someone recognised as having high potential (a possible future leader) is about 18 months: 3 to 6 months to learn the business and assess critical problems, 6 months to work on solutions and strategy and the remaining time to implement and test results.
By undergoing such intense and relatively short assignments, these individuals are constantly increasing their ability to learn, act quickly and decisively and, of course, make mistakes, as they never stay in their comfort zone for very long. Through the process, they create a wider frame of reference to build on, develop a certain self-confidence in their own ability and, without doubt, gain a huge amount of credibility.
Building credibility is not about multiplying experiences for the sake of it but getting the right experience for what it is you want to achieve.
As Loren Gary states in her chapter ‘Pulling yourself up through the ranks’,1 there are about 16 critical events that are relevant or fast experience builders and drive huge credibility and leadership success.
Most leaders in Fortune 500 organisations would add the following to the list:
These last are particularly relevant to building credibility as they draw on a complete skill set, including technical skills, finding resources, strategic thinking, challenging leadership skills, people skills and a flawless ability to deliver.
The right experience builds skills in two main dimensions – technical and interpersonal (communication, having influence and leadership).
If, for example, you want to become a chief financial officer, having solid experience in financial planning and analysis will give you a head start and develop your numeracy and business thinking. If you are more drawn to a chief executive officer role, then having spent some time leading different business units, in different cultural contexts or in a mergers and acquisitions department will be critical to you being credible in such a position.
All the above qualities also need to be complemented by a solid understanding of the industry you are in. Having knowledge is the overarching requirement for top-notch credibility. The current Executive Director and member of the Board of the French shipping company CMA-CGM has over 30 years’ experience in shipping. There is not a cycle, situation or issue that he has not either seen or experienced in his career. When he talks about shipping, he is able to give you the history of the industry with the strategic implications and potential competitive responses. That is what credibility is all about.
Negotiating an important contract is a perfect way to gain the right experience and build your credibility. It employs both technical and soft skills.
At the technical level, negotiating an important contract helps develop the following:
Your negotiation strategy would also need to take into account who plays what role – good cop/bad cop, decision maker or influencer – and the potential triggering points for playing bargaining chips or utilising the balance of power:
At the interpersonal level, negotiating an important contract helps develop the following:
Robert Rozek, Chief Financial Officer of Korn Ferry International, used what he called a ‘Roadmap to CFO’ to gain the right experience and, thereby, increase his credibility. It is an eight-page document that:
Rozek would review this document on a yearly basis to update himself based on the latest developments in his experience. It was his credibility document.
This very powerful tool allows you to articulate a clear pathway to achieving your goals. It helps you keep track of what has been achieved and changes in the environment. It is a great credibility tool for anyone serious about managing their careers.
Gaining the right experience or, as previously mentioned, adequately managing your career, building on both your technical and soft skills, is based on three distinct elements.
In Part 2, you spent some time finding the leader inside you. This included understanding your natural leadership make-up and the things that motivate you to succeed. You identified your strengths and your areas for development, as well as your fears and how to overcome them. You also reflected on your leadership/personal brand.
Your reasoning or questioning around gaining the right experience should relate to all of the above dimensions, with a specific focus on the following two questions:
The first question allows you to ask yourself not only what function or position you want to attain but also, more generally, how you can express ‘who you are’ in career terms and so, ultimately, gain credibility. For example, if you are not particularly numerate, it might be unwise to choose to aim for a high-ranking finance position. Look at what you like doing, what you are naturally good at, then look for positions that require these qualities and skills. What do they really entail? What kinds of people are currently holding these positions? Why are they credible in these roles?
The second question focuses on the meaning of your desired role and what its attributes are, so will help you visualise how to get there. To answer it think about someone you feel is credible in that role and the attributes they demonstrate. You will then be able to hold a mirror up to your own attributes and assess the gaps between your experience and where you want to end up. Then you can decide what you want to address immediately or sooner rather than later.
This process should be based on what you have defined as the must have skills or attributes of people who are credible in the role you ultimately want to achieve. Complement this by assessing the gaps in your current experiences or attributes. Ultimately, you will need to proactively develop a comprehensive plan to fill these gaps.
Even when you have a well laid-out action plan, as defined above, stay tuned in to any potential opportunities that will either:
Also, stay open to opportunities outside of your current organisation.
This exercise helps you develop a comprehensive understanding of potential gaps in your experience and craft an action plan to resolve this. To do this you will need to meet and discuss with others, gather data and then spend a couple of hours designing your action plan.
This may be done by answering the following questions with your line manager or mentor in order to ascertain what you need to do to achieve your chosen leadership position:
You can complement this exercise by investigating what kinds of pathways or experience the leaders of your organisation possess in order to pick up on any trends and patterns. When you identify those with credibility, make a point of meeting with them as this is a good way to start establishing networks.
Example: Pathways at Shell
In the Shell Finance Leadership Team, most had worked in both parts of the business – Exploration and Production, and Downstream. They had all been in business finance and portfolio finance positions. Most of them had led a change management programme of one sort or another and they had all worked in emerging markets at some stage.
Once you have gathered and analysed your data, proceed to comparing and contrasting your findings with your own current experience and attributes:
Create a list of the gaps to be filled. Avoid having an overly systematic or proactive approach to filling them, as career management is a very fluid process. The purpose of the gap list is for you to keep in mind the things you need to work on and scout for activities or opportunities that will address these. You do not have to be too scientific about what to do first or second or next – the key point is to realise what it is that you need to do.
Potential leaders commonly possess the characteristics of curiosity and impatience.
It is therefore relevant to address ways to accelerate your gaining of experience and credibility and develop a sense of what is to come while always applying rigorous self-analysis to everything you do.
This really means keeping abreast of the changes in your environment – not only industrywise and wide but also in terms of technology or organisational theories. You need to know this as it may mean that you then need to acquire a particular new skill or skill set as a result of some development.
Here are some examples to illustrate the importance of sensing what is to come:
This is an efficient way to keep things in context and set you on a constant path of gaining credibility and building on this. Regularly ask yourself the following question in order to assess what is missing that you also need to factor in on your gap list:
This does not mean that you need to keep changing direction. However, picking up signs and defining trends will help refine your overall strategy. It will help ensure you gain relevant experience to boost your credibility and move faster.
Sensing what is going on, being aware of the world around you, is part of increasing your knowledge and developing as a leader. When it comes to accelerating your credibility the question to ask is this:
Let us look at a couple of examples to see how you might set about answering this question:
Dedicating some time to keeping connected with the outside world in this way is extremely useful. Keep up to date with the news every day, read industry magazines and keep an eye on the blogs of thought leaders such as Seth Godin and Tom Peters.
You may also consider increasing your ability to sense things that will add to your experience or credibility through other people. On a regular basis, engage in dialogue with your network of peers and stakeholders within and outside your company, about emerging trends (how they might impact business and organisations) or in more general philosophical debates about experience, credibility and leadership. Plan to attend conferences on topics that are of interest to you and/or are important for your business. Make a commitment to do this on a regular basis (once or maybe twice a month).
Factor into your month some networking time with people working in different parts of the organisation, to understand their issues and perspectives and identify trends in specific skill sets that you might need in the future.
Your credibility increases every day. It is rooted in how you behave and react in the moment to whatever is thrown at you.
The following examples or situations are classic cases that, badly managed, can immediately damage your credibility, but, if well managed, help sustain a long-lasting positive perception of your leadership:
Approach all the infinite possibilities of what can happen in one day in the life of a leader. Increase your credibility by:
To monitor whether you are building your credibility or damaging it, it is useful to add regular checkpoints to your schedule when you reflect on your actions and experience.
Set aside 30 or 45 minutes to recap what you have done, achieved, handled or solved in the previous 10 or 20 days. Particularly, think about the following:
You may also decide to include this analysis in your natural cycle of performance evaluation, on a yearly or quarterly basis.
As mentioned above, credibility is gained every day and backed up by every decision you make when it comes to your career.
The following four simple rules have proved useful for those building their careers.
Have regular discussions with your line manager and/or your peers to find out if any opportunities for special projects or temporary assignments outside your area of expertise might be possible. For instance:
The higher up you go in any organisation, the more difficult it is to take on additional assignments. You will already have a list of cross-functional projects to work on as part of your yearly goals. Do not hesitate to think also about personal projects that could help you with your career development.
If you have identified specific technical skills you need, enrol for an evening class or look for a conference on those topics. At times, it can be better to enrol with a couple of other people, so that you have the opportunity to debate the ideas and crystallise what you have learned.
Using external (market) validation to test your experience and credibility might seem controversial. Remember, however, that employment at just one organisation for life is a thing of the past and exposing yourself to cultural change is also a way to accelerate your learning and gain experience. It also shows your ability to take risks, adjust and grow.
Over the course of your career, dedicate some time to building and maintaining a network of human resources professionals or headhunters to help you with this process. Make sure you are always open about your objectives (for example, you might be clear with them that you are testing your value, not actively looking, wanting to go through some questions on what to do next and so on).
This does not have to be an aggressive strategy – doing so every couple of years or when you are thinking of making a move in your current organisation is generally effective. Testing your value in this way is a useful exercise. It allows you to compare, contrast and assess what level of responsibility you could aim for in an organisation.
To conclude, credibility is gained by acquiring experience and staying current. Doing this requires discipline and commitment. Credibility is only gained when there is an element of impact, tangible results or change at the personal level, arising from the experience, job or role. There is no need to become obsessed about gaining the right experience and becoming credible. What matters is that you have a clear overarching strategy, with flexibility, and commit to your personal development.
Day in, day out, it is crucial to stay focused on the expectations of your current role and the tasks at hand.
The process of gaining credibility as a leader will be incomplete if the questions of value and authenticity are not addressed. Being aware of what is acceptable or not in your organisation and, more importantly, what is acceptable or not for you as a person, are key elements of successful leadership. Only strong values can yield long-term business performance. Leveraging your value set to gain credibility will require you to first assess your values by means of self-questioning. It will then be important to compare and contrast your value set with that of your organisation. The more aligned they are, the more chances you will have of being able to gain credibility and be true to yourself. Finally, always abiding by your values will require discipline and the integration of regular checkpoints into your everyday life as a leader.
An executive in the infrastructure industry was faced with an ethical dilemma at a certain point in her career. She was on the Board of a company that was shortly going to be acquired. The closing of the deal was an inherent part of the delivery for the year and would be taken into consideration for the calculation of bonuses. The valuation was also an element – the higher the valuation, the greater the bonus.
Faced with discussions about pushing the valuation up, she realised she was uncomfortable about this and decided to leave the company. She said that this was so far removed from her values and beliefs that she had felt she would be failing herself and tarnishing her own reputation by staying and endorsing some of the proposed activities. She stated that knowing very precisely what she wanted to stand for made the decision making process easier for her. She never regretted leaving the company.
Credibility mostly comes as the result of gaining experience, but your value set impacts several parts of your leadership skill set: decision making, teambuilding and the ability to have influence. Your values are also essential when establishing yourself as a credible and authentic leader. Without personal values, there is limited business value.
The leadership literature generally focuses on examples of good leadership and omits saying anything about ‘bad’ leadership, yet there is a plethora of it. It can result from a variety of causes – lack of vision, lack of innovation or lack of values.
Simply open the Financial Times every so often to see the consequences of lack of values in different areas.
Without proper values, businesses’ credibility will suffer (Olympus), their capacity to grow and expand will suffer (India’s telecom industry), they will go bankrupt (News of the World) or even lose critical competitive advantage (Anti-Corruption and Anti-Bribery Act).
Without proper values, leadership may become meaningless – even harmful. Leaders have an impact on the lives and incomes of thousands and with this comes responsibility. Leaders set the tone of their organisations and act as examples and role models. If they do not, they may put businesses at risk.
As mentioned previously, credibility is based on a mix of personal and organisational needs. When it comes to value sets, the need for alignment between personal and organisational values is even stronger than it is for credibility.
Everyone has a value system, shaped by a mixture of education, religious beliefs and experiences. Individuals’ personal values are the foundation for the credibility of their leadership. However, credibility is enhanced when it is somewhat aligned with the expectations of your environment. When it comes to values, it is hugely beneficial for them to be strongly aligned with the corporate values of the organisation.
Building a strong understanding of your value set and that of your organisation is a three-step process. This will require three to four hours of your time and your feedback group’s time in order to come up with a comprehensive and tangible outcome.
This is the first step. The following questions will help you to discover your value set and sense what they mean for your organisation:
In a similar fashion to the elevator pitch exercise in Chapter 5, work on creating your value or moral statement or catchphrase and practise it as if you were in a lift. It is a good idea to spend some time comparing and contrasting your value set with the corporate value set. This gives you a point of focus for addressing matters of authenticity and analysing how well your value set matches your organisation’s.
Values are critical to gaining credibility, mitigating any misperceptions or gap between what you think you project and what people around you actually see.
Consider seeking feedback to establish how you come across. As values might be a delicate topic to talk about in the work environment, it is highly recommended that you explore this with your feedback group. However, if you feel that this is too personal or too daunting, you might consider seeking feedback from those in your personal network only.
With each member of your feedback group or personal network, present and discuss:
Bringing your value statement to life really comes down to actions and making the commitment to exhibit certain behaviours. It should be put into action in the way you make decisions, choices and communicate. For every attribute you have decided to include in your values statement, write down the tangible behaviours and actions that will be required to put them into practice.
Also reflect on the specific language you should start using to ingrain the message and create the right perception. Only a mix of actions and ways of communicating will make people clearly perceive your value set. Be disciplined and demonstrate this consistently to yield results.
Leaders who are respectful of others will demonstrate or do the following:
Trust is a two-way street. It is about being trustworthy yourself and being able to trust others. Consider doing the following to demonstrate that you are trustworthy:
Demonstrating your personal core values and the corporate values should be the backbone of your leadership style and your credibility. When we are put under pressure, in times of crisis or when experiencing a significant increase in workload, it is easy to slip and let performance, attitudes and behaviours slide. To stay in tune and be able to correct behaviours quickly you may consider doing the following:
This analysis can be completed in a bi-weekly or monthly session of about 30 minutes.
Experience and demonstrating a strong set of values are the fundamental building blocks of credibility. These are underpinned by one last element – authenticity.
You worked on your personal brand elevator pitch previously (see Chapter 5). Here, the idea is to adequately capture what it is you stand for when it comes to values.
As before, consider creating your value statement in the form of a couple of sentences or so that will act as your catchphrase or motto. They should summarise your value set and set out your boundaries.
This elevator pitch is to sell yourself and should be what you would say about yourself. Here is an example.
If you were in a lift with the CEO of the company of your dreams and he or she was talking about value sets, what would you say?
‘I am a compassionate individual who believes in trusting in people and acting with a high level of integrity.’
Equally, your personal elevator pitch could be given by someone else talking about you.
‘… is a straightforward and trustworthy person who pushes the team to excellence fairly and supportively.’
If a person who knows you was in a lift with the CEO of the company of your dreams and talked about your values, what would you like that person to say?
Part 2 of this book focused on understanding who you are as an individual. It asked you to look inside yourself, understand your drivers, strengths and areas for development. Having come to know yourself better enables you to reflect on leadership in an authentic way.
Authenticity is one of the key drivers in terms of gaining credibility. It is important to your decision making when it comes to gaining experience and what you should do next. When carrying out your self-questioning and debating with others as to what would be the natural or logical next steps for you, keep the following questions in mind at all times:
There is always the question of stretching yourself to consider and it is important not to shy away from this in terms of gaining credibility. You can find different types of stretch:
Above all, it is important to remember that credibility comes from times when you perform at your best, and you will tend to excel in either things you have a natural ability in or passion for. Hopping on the bandwagon and listening to other people’s advice might feel good at times, but also might lead to regrets. Being true to yourself will help you filter out peer pressure and popular opinion, allowing you to base your actions on your own passions, skills and convictions. It will also help you learn how to be courageous enough to act on them.
Authenticity will also allow you to assess just how good the fit is between you and your current corporate environment as well as with others around you.
One senior executive reported that twice in his career he had resigned from positions because the value gap between the corporate values expressed in the glossy annual reports and the reality of everyday life was too big. This unacceptable gap between his values and the corporation’s hindered his desire to belong and his ability to perform. He simply had to take action to find a more suitable position.
The best way to take the authenticity test is spend some time assessing any gap between what your values are and the perceived values that a leader in your organisation should demonstrate. Looking at these two side by side will give you a measure of how closely the match actually is with your organisation.
This does not mean that you have to shy away from environments that do not exactly match your value set – this may, in reality, be a different type of perfectly healthy stretch. However, it is good to bear in mind the following:
The corporate environment is the soil in which you plant the seeds of your success, so it is crucial to find a mix that allows you to flourish and thrive. You owe it to yourself to find the right environment for you.
Here’s a reminder of some of the key points from this chapter:
1 In (2005) The Results-driven Manager: Becoming an effective leader. Harvard Business School Press.
2 A data-driven business management methodology developed by Motorola in the 1980s. Its aim is to eradicate any faults from the original manufacturing process by focusing on the root cause. The idea is to reach the Six Sigma: that is, 3.4 defects in 1 million. It has three levels of qualifications – Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt.