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| Credibility Credibility vs. Profitability! As Shakespeare might say, that is the question. Most would agree that it is better to suffer a loss of profitability instead of credibility, but in today's Wall Street driven, daily profit focused world, that is really much easier to say than do. Last time I looked, there was no income statement line entitled Credibility, like there is Net Income. But as a leader, you must always be prepared to deal with this issue, and to be clear on the values that would guide your decision. The word credibility comes from the root word credo that means I believe. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner (authors of The Leadership Challenge), state that credibility is the foundation of leadership. People must believe in the leader before they will follow. Quite simply, leaders "who do what they say they will do" build credibility and make it easier for people to trust and believe in them. There is nothing more essential than trust for long term profitability. By the way, if you wonder how important credibility is, think about what is happening right now with Ford/Firestone issue. Click here for last month's lesson: Reflections about Change
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