Lasting relationships are built around credibility. All parties in any relationship must have believability to be credible. Credibility is a quality you must exhibit in dealing with others. When people trust you, they will listen to you and they will follow you. In the early stages of any relationship, such as marriage or friendship, you are usually given the benefit of the doubt as long as your credentials are good. But in order to maintain anyone’s trust, you must demonstrate credibility, reliability, integrity, and sincerity.
American pastor and author John C. Maxwell said that to gain credibility, you must consistently demonstrate three things:
• Initiative: you have to get up to go up.
• Sacrifice: you have to give up to go up.
• Maturity: you have to grow up to go up.
If you show the way, people will want to follow you. The higher you go, the greater the number of people who will be willing to travel with you. When we connect well with a new neighbor or coworker, we feel we may have a new friend. When we meet the person we end up marrying, we think everything will always be wonderful, like the honeymoon. But after the honeymoon comes the day-to-day commitment of marriage. Sometimes that, too, is wonderful, and sometimes it’s not.
What makes the difference is this: credibility. After a while credibility overrides communication. When a person is credible, the longer the time you are with them, the better it gets. But for someone who lacks credibility, the longer the time, the worse it gets. Credibility is like money. With it, you are solvent, but without it, you are bankrupt. The truth is with the passing of time, the way you live far outweighs the words you use.
True leadership is founded on the premise of credibility and believability. Leadership-followership go hand in hand and without credibility, leadership- followership doesn’t exist over time. From a biblical perspective the Bible teaches that “the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” So, establish yourself as a credible leader, and you will gain respect from others who will follow.
Never Give Up! Never Give Up! Never Give Up!
By Chaplain Ghosten
chaplain@lhp.net
