Leadership - Credibility

Credibility

Build for your vision

If you have a vision you are trying to achieve you will need to present it to those it will affect.
No matter how good the presentation, you will not succeed and get peoples’ buy-in unless you have credibility.

You first the vision second

People will only back you if they believe in you.
This will only happen if they have a personal connection with you or you can demonstrate precious success.
If you go to the bank manager for a first loan or you ask someone to invest in you (time or money) they will ask many questions and will need a lot of convincing.

When you approach the same people a second time, after the initial success, the path will be considerably easier.

Follow the leader

People will often follow a leader that they admire and like despite failings of some attempts to make a vision reality.
This can often be seen in politics where visions often fail to materialise but the charisma of the leader still engenders support.
Leaders only tend to disappear in politics when they become a positive liability.

Get people on board

If you want to get your vision accepted you must get to know the group you are trying to influence.
If you want people to change direction from entrenched views this process may take months or even years before your credibility is high enough to succeed.

Take your vision to the key individuals that have the greatest influence and get them to accept it first on a one-to-one basis. Let them discuss the options with others over a period of time. Only when the validity of your vision has filtered down to the remaining members of the group is it worth presenting to everyone.