Credibility is the foundation of all leadership. To talk about credibility you have to see leadership as a process between the leader and the followers. In doing so, you start to understand that leadership is a relationship. You have then, two sides of a coin. This relationship is connected by the fundamental human aspirations of the leader and the followers.

Kouzes & Posner, in their nearly 30 years of investigations, have found that the followers expected the leader to have the following characteristics:

Honest, forward looking, competent, inspiring, intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, supportive, straightforward, dependable, cooperative, determined, imaginative, ambitious, courageous, caring, mature, loyal, self-controlled, independent.

Among all of these characteristics, the most important were:

• HONEST
• FORWARD-LOOKING
• COMPETENT
• INSPIRING

These four characteristics where consistently elected as the most important since the 1st edition of their best-seller “The Leadership Challenge” in 1987 through the 3rd edition in 2002. 

K&P found that when leaders are performing at their peak, they’re also responding to the expectations of their followers, underscoring (they say) a relationship of service to a purpose and service to people. That is, leaders respond to the needs of the purpose and to the needs of their followers too.

Honest

In the studies conducted by K&P, honesty was chosen as the most voted characteristic a leader should have. It’s not difficult to see why honesty has been the most important characteristic a leader should have. Nobody wants to be led by someone who can lie or deceive. Going further they state “when we follow someone we believe to be dishonest, we come to realize that we’ve compromised our own integrity. Over time we not only lose respect for the leader, we lose respect for ourselves”.

Forward-Looking

The ability to look ahead has to do with the clarity of purpose and direction. You have to know where you’re going if you’re going to jump on the wagon. This ability doesn’t have to do with a crystal ball or a magical power to foresee the future. Instead, it has to do with the ability of the leader to describe clearly the destination the team (organization) is headed to. K&P also found that the importance of this characteristic is tied to the role the follower has in the organization. Front line positions are less prone to mention this characteristic, while senior-management is more tending to include it.

Competent

It refers to the leader’s track record and ability to get things done. A leader doesn’t have to know all the ins and outs of a business, but has to be aware of the business and the current operation. Along with that, K&P state that “the most important competency a leader brings to the role is the ability to work well with others“.

Inspiring

A leader has to encourage his followers to sign on the project for as long as it takes. The leader has to communicate the vision in the right way to inspire the team. It’s essential then that the leader can get to his team’s hearts. To do so, there’s a lot he can do, but to start he must be a living motivation. The leader has to be enthusiastic and excited about the dream he’s pursuing, this is the first step to inspire his followers.

If you are a leader right now, or if you’re aspiring to become one, be warned that these four characteristics are not the only ones that can help you to be credible. They’re the most important ones according to K&P. Your job is to develop all these qualities in order to become a credible leader (in the end a better person).

Be Aware, Be A Leader.