Club Reviews: Credibility

Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It. James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner. Wiley. 368 pages.

Kouzes' and Posner's credibility is more than that. Theirs is clearly about moral credibility concerning
conduct and attitudes judged from a moral value standpoint.  That leaves out such leaders as Charles Manson, various dictators and other leaders without moral values.

Practicing the moral values goes along with knowing how to proceed in order to show competence.
The authors present their message as a clear and concise logical guide with a checklist for attaining moral credibility.

Included are the necessary behaviors, qualities, and characteristics with positive examples of successful
leaders with moral values such as honesty.

If more people, leaders or otherwise, would read and follow their guide to credibility and hold their leaders more accountable to their message, the world would be a better place and we would all benefit from it.
With today's world situation with lack of confidence in various institutions and their leaders, this book

seems to have the perfect message.

Perhaps if enough leaders and aspiring leaders would read this inspiring book, trust and credibility may come back to the forefront along with competency.

Just reading it is helpful but the key is to follow its guidelines with sincerity. Margot Byrnes, Miami

The authors of "Credibility" got across their message. Honesty is good. It may be the most important attribute a leader needs to establish credibility. It is also a vital attribute for a good coworker. This is not surprising. People tend not to give credence to those they know to be dishonest. Alas, the rest of the book is no more insightful than that.
It does advise many behaviors for good managers and leaders. For example, “Credibility” strongly recommends being enthusiastic, educating constituents, and listening to others. But those subjects are all covered in countless other books and articles. Even the first person accounts by successful people of leaders that changed their lives seemed bland. The stories often revealed more about the tellers, because of what they did with a situation than about the managers who made such strong impressions.
On the plus side, this book is easy to read and not too long. The reader who wants a quick survey of easy to understand human relations concepts for the workplace may be well served by it. Heidi Markovitz, Washington, DC

The credibility gap that emerged after the the last big fiscal crisis is finding a rebirth with the recent financial meltdown.  Trust, the key component to credibility, has been taking a slapping and the timing for this book couldn’t better.  While the character traits we all look for in our leaders have changed little,  the need for it is at an all time high.

Whenever fear and uncertainty  become the lead story night after night, that anxiety will play out at the office which could impact trust and productivity.  Instead of building relationships, actions comments and too much talking and not enough listening can actually create barriers to success.

“Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It”  offers terrific insights in what employees expect from their leaders AND their coworkers.  The personal stories of how actions of past supervisors permanently impacted individuals is inspiring and practical.  The research in the book clearly demonstrates how making personal meaningful relationships with colleagues is more important today than ever before.  There are real, practical conversation starters to help build those relationships.  And, for supervisors or others who believe they have lost credibility the book offers hope too.

This one got me thinking.  If you don’t have time for a deep dive, focus on the key ideas at the end of each chapter and, if you read only one chapter,  focus on “The Struggle to be Human.”  This isn’t just a touchy feely approach to managing.  It provide hands on tools to create optimism, trust and passion within our teams. Kimberly Miller, Miami

More than ever, but especially in the Financial Services world, to have credibility "makes a difference".
As a professional in said industry, I have sensed a very scarce presence of credible representatives. Those who lack any credibility have damaged the reputation of  those who do not compromise with the gyrations of their "easy money" efforts. This book summarizes in a brilliant manner the process to restore credibility and sustain it. Each chapter is full of concrete principles and actions to accomplish these two objectives. In particular the chapter entitled "Affirm Shared Values" provides specific recommendations to build productive and genuine working relationships. This book is permanently on the top of my desk to be able to go back to its valuable strategies in order to succeed through genuine credibility. Ariel Gonzalez-Medel, Palmetto Bay

What a classic analysis and template that will make any officer, manager, or team leader a success. The well documented evidence from many business areas and levels of sophistication shows the universality of their message. Well respected leaders have learned these lessons to earn credibility, but the tenets are always worth repeating. Image how  the culture of corporate America would be changed in a more productive,innovative and respectful manner  If more credible leaders were created. Marvin Stein, Coral Springs

It was very disappointing book — I had hope to get more from it that what it delivered.
The first thing that I did not like was the constant reference to the previews book and the research — the authors did not need to make a reference to it on every page as it detracts from the reading and it breaks the flow of the message, it spend too much time discussing that and very little delivering a real message 
Authors could have deliver the message in one third of the pages.
I will not recommend the book I think that in the end it does not delivered what it promised.
To me credibility is based on a persons integrity, character and convictions all of which seem to have gone out the window in a society that is hungry for power, money and fame at any cost, we saw it with the recent failures of the financial markets, banking, car companies, and politicians every day and as long as their main objective is their own selfish pursue of money, power and fame... credibility will be hard to find in our current leaders, bosses, politicians etc. Theresa Jacome, Miami