[November 2, 2016] Nearly 50 years ago, the U.S. was in the middle of the Vietnam War and experiencing a strengthening antiwar movement. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson met with a group of highly prestigious leaders to ask for their advice on how to unite citizens on the war effort. Their advice was to give more optimistic reports. However, a major North Vietnamese offensive stunned the public after these reports came out and Johnson began to lose credibility.1
When a leader begins to lose his or her credibility, it can be for a number of reasons that I’ve outlined before (see links here and here).2 Credibility is about how believable a person is to others and it is, of course, the foundation of leadership. If people don’t believe the messenger, they won’t believe the message.
That is why in the current U.S. presidential contest, both candidates are attacking the credibility of the other person running – a common political method that is very effective. They are trying to convince voters that their opponent cannot be believed and is thus incapable of performing the job of president.
Most people don’t recognize in themselves the point they start to lose credibility. That is why it’s so important to have a mentor who is willing to say things confidentially that helps one see reality. Leaders are often over protected by a staff who want that leader to succeed. Insulation from harsh realities means that such a leader will be out of touch and unaware of the affect of what they say and do.
Many claim that U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a staff that over protects her by not saying what they really think or by informing her on what the impact of Clinton’s actions are. This has lead to a candidate who is perceived as out of touch and unwilling to change when faced with a crisis. As problems continue to plague Ms. Clinton on the campaign trail, she remains steadfast in denying that she has done anything wrong. Not unexpectedly, her credibility has suffered.
For anyone to recognize that they are losing their credibility is difficult. That is why it is so important, as a leader, to always be genuine about who you are, to listen carefully to what is being said, to always speak clearly and direct, and to do one’s best at being a leader who is a catalyst for good things to happen (like bringing people together).
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- President Johnson said at the time, “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” We can see implied in his statement that it is okay to manipulate the message in order to win or lose an objective. It was on this date, November 2nd, in 1967 that he assembled what was known as the “wise men.” http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/johnson-meets-with-the-wise-men
- Credible leaders depend on trust and loyalty of those that follow them. Here are some of the ways for a leader to lose credibility. Any one of these will cause a leader to lose credibility; any combination is sure to destroy credibility quickly:
- Lying (includes broken promises, exaggerating, misleading statements, fake apologies, etc.)
- Technical ignorance (not knowing the procedural details on how work is done)
- Operational incompetence (not knowing how the organization works)
- Inexperience
- Lack of focus and motivation
- Lazy habits (a failure to lead by example)