{"id":658,"date":"2012-10-31T11:09:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T10:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/leggett\/?p=658"},"modified":"2012-11-08T15:41:27","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T14:41:27","slug":"part-1-ethos-executive-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/leggett\/2012\/10\/31\/part-1-ethos-executive-credibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1: Ethos: Executive Credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Description : <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe persuasive role of character was seriously devalued during the Enlightenment. The rise of experimental science emphasised the goal of neutrality, which was thought to be guaranteed only through radical detachment: subject and object were thus torn asunder.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Darwin Smith)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to be in the hot seat of some multinational corporation such as Google or Apple to worry about how others, especially analysts and shareholders, see us and whether or not they have confidence in us. All of us, irrespective of our seniority, have, at times, the same worry. Establishing credibility is something as pressing for young executives as maintaining it is for senior ones. Younger executives and managers have to build their credibility on entering a firm or, in some cases for older managers, to rebuild it when lost. This article is in two parts and offers a simple paradigm to build credibility based on the concepts of ‘expertise’ and ‘relationship’ and \u2018character\u2019. We shall look at Expertise and Relationship in Part 1 and Character and Gravitas later in Part 2.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Expertise and Relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jay Conger, writing in his Harvard Business Review article, \u201cThe Necessary Art of Persuasion\u201d1<\/sup>, looked at credibility in a very practical way and wrote \u201cin the workplace credibility grows out of two sources: expertise and relationships\u201d. These two concepts of \u2018expertise in subject matter\u2019 and the creation of \u2018good personal relationships\u2019 provide others with some good reasons to believe in our credibility.<\/p>\n

\u00a0i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Displaying Expertise<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In keeping with Jay Conger, \u2018Expertise\u2019 is simply based on the speaker\u2019s being known as being knowledgeable about his or her business and having a reputation of making sound judgements. A manager who knows his products, his markets, and customers and staff well will have little difficulty in asking his colleagues, subordinates, or bosses, for that matter, to accept a new product line. We simply have no alternative but to be well informed about our business and to communicate this level of expertise to others.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If we should find ourselves weak in this area, whether we are trying to build our credibility from scratch or to re-establish ourselves, the following ideas may be of some help:<\/p>\n