Credibility

Monday November 22, 2010- This is a really cool thing I saw earlier. It is from a credibility strategy from Graham Jones called, "The Credibility Pyramid" Anyway Here are some thoughts...
1. Knowledge (10%) – There are some really great thoughts here,knowledge is only given 10% of the process but it is nevertheless the foundation. If you don’t know what you are talking about, you have no credibility no matter what else you might bring to the mix.

2. Focus (15%) – The next level up according to Graham is focus which constitutes 15% of the total credibility. Focus describes the process wherein people do not deviate or go off target. This is the part of the process where the sprint becomes the marathon.This does not mean that you need to bombard other people with huge amounts of details and information in order to be considered credible. It is more about being clear and consistent in the information being presented than the amount of info.

3. Enthusiasm (25%) – The next component on this pyramid of credibility is enthusiasm. This has an allocation of 25% which is fairly high. We probably call this passion more often than not. We view enthusiastic people as being far more credible than those who are not.

Perhaps it is because we feel that if the person can’t be enthusiastic about their own topic then he can’t be believing in his own words. Of course this can be unfair. There are some people who are too shy to speak up never mind appear enthusiastic.

4. Care and Concern (50%) – Possibly the most surprising component of credibility is the top part of this pyramid. It shows that 50% of your credibility is associated with your care and concern. If you show that you care about your audience you will be able to gather up half of the momentum towards strong credibility.

This means that when building up your credibility you have to show a huge amount of caring and concern for the interests and well-being of your team. No matter what you are trying to do , whether build a blog, build a team, sell a product or even just hold a conversation on a social media platform such as Twitter or Facebook, if you care for your people you build credibility.

It seems that a small percentage of your credibility is knowledge, add to that focus and enthusiasm and you only have half of what makes up your credibility. The other half is all about caring and concern for the other person’s well-being.
Just wanted to share this. I thought it was awesome.