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Why People Believe in Their Leaders – or Not
Article

Why People Believe in Their Leaders – or Not


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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

“Leadership is the relationship between people who aspire to lead and those who choose whether or not to follow,” begins this highly applicable article by business professors Daniel Han Ming Chng, Tae-Yeol Kim, Brad Gilbreath and Lynne Andersson. Whether people follow, the authors say, depends on a leader’s credibility. Learn which two qualities make you credible and how you can embody and express them.

Summary

Credibility, or lack of it, makes or breaks leaders. This quality is hard to cultivate and fragile: Consider the abrupt fall of executives at Volkswagen and other firms after various newsworthy scandals. People measure a leader’s credibility using two yardsticks: perceived competence and trustworthiness. A three-year US study reveals new, concrete ways to boost each attribute.

To show your competence, be a person of action who focuses on the future and business results. For example, identify big market trends and how best to navigate them. Moreover, give priority to your employees, communicate well, ...

About the Authors

Daniel Han Ming Chng, PhD, is an associate professor of strategy. Tae-Yeol Kim and Brad Gilbreath are management professors. Lynne Andersson is an associate professor of human resource management.