The Importance of Credibility and Respect

Today I received this great email from Young and Successful Media, LLC. They provide great tips and learning opportunities for young professionals. These were so great, I had to post and share them. Feel free to leave a comment with your feedback.

How do you build the credibility and respect you’re looking for?


1. Start with where you are. We all start somewhere, and you can begin

this excursion from anywhere, at any point in your life. The earlier the

better of course. There are a myriad of ways to start changing the way

people perceive you, your experience, expertise and your potential for

the better. Commit yourself to making an effort to build a more solid

foundation and credibility and respect are sure to follow.

2. Assess your objectives. Think about what credibility and respect mean

to you. After all, it’s hard to expect others to treat you with respect if

you don’t first have respect for yourself and who you are. It should go

without saying, but be someone you can be proud of first and foremost.

Then define how you’d like to experience it in your life and career. What

would it look like, feel like, sound like? How would it manifest? Start to

build a plan around what you might need to do to achieve it.

3. Consider your audience. Who are the people you’re most concerned

with impressing or gaining the confidence and trust of? What constitutes

credibility and respect in their eyes? Expectations of us come from many

directions. Knowing what’s expected of you by different people and in

different situations helps us live up to the standards we accept as

worthwhile to pursue. Parents are the first people we try to impress.

They want us to be happy, responsible, accomplished, a source of pride.

Teachers want us to be smart, respectful, disciplined, accomplished.

Friends judge us by a whole different set of criteria, typically a lot more

related to our social standing and interactions, how trustworthy we are,

our advice, support and the way they feel around us. Employers and

clients demand reliability, loyalty, performance, results, and far more

depending on the nature of the relationships. The more specific your

objectives in gaining credibility and respect from others, the more

focused you can be on isolating what matters most to your primary

audience. In a lot of cases you can even just ask about other’s

expectations, hopes or dreams for you, and you’ll get many of your

answers from those simple conversations alone. You might even earn

more respect from the very act of showing you care enough to ask in the

first place.

4. Study the “experts”. Consider those who you admire and aspire to

emulate. Analyze how they achieved their own credibility. Do give some

consideration to what constitutes an expert in the first place. In fact,

everyone seems to be calling themselves an expert these days! Be very

careful in making these assessments since it’s getting harder and harder

to evaluate who really has the substance and integrity to deserve our

reverence and attention - especially when we’re paying or relying on

guidance to make important decisions. Experts are most often people

who:

• Own companies

• Start or run non-profits

• Align themselves with reputable organizations

• Hold high level positions and interesting job titles

• Are recognized by others

• Are the recipients of awards and accolades

• Sit on boards

• Write books, articles and blogs

• Maintain a following

• Establish ties to notable schools

• Stay very connected

• Conduct research, predict trends

• Do unusual things

• Get paid for that they know or can offer

• And make an impact on many others.

Research the people who inspire you, lead your company or industry, and

have achieved things you have only dreamed of. Get to know them up

close and personally whenever you can. Follow their careers and learn all

that you can about their path so that you might discover useful tips you

can leverage along yours.

5. Build your platform. Once you are clear on your objectives, build your

own identity by emulating the experts. Put significant energy behind

establishing your own expertise (through several of the activities bulleted

above) to build your own substance and credibility. Methodically craft

your own plan to start hitting bigger and bigger milestones of your own,

all driving towards the direction you’d most like to head or the ultimate

goals you’d most like to reach. Create a name for yourself. Be the best

at something. Learn what others only hope to know or understand.

Dedicate yourself to accomplishing something big and bold, then work

towards making it happen. Get involved in your community or industry

and achieve great things on their behalf. Find out where the action is and

get yourself into the middle of it. Make waves. Make a statement. Add

value. As others learn of you and your work, your reputation will grow

and take on a life of its own. Eventually you may even become a peer of

those who you’ve admired most.

6. Brand yourself. Branding is something we all need to be concerned

about today, especially with how fast the world of technology,

communications and even the media is changing. Stay on top of the

trends in these areas and leverage the latest and most dominant

platforms to communicate to the world who you are. Whether you’re an

entrepreneur, artist, teacher, doctor, politician, electrician or athlete, take

a look around you, at your competition and see how you measure up.

People - clients, prospects, executives, even neighbors - all need to know

about you to want to interact and do business with you. Regardless of

how good you may be, how well you package and promote yourself

matters, and it can make a world of difference to your success.
7. Refine your pitches. We’re all in sales, whether we realize it or not.

Everyday we sell ourselves and our credibility in one form or another.

When we introduce ourselves, talk about what we do, ask for help, solicit

support, socialize, network, engage with groups, work on teams, perform

for a boss or client or prospect, we’re pitching ourselves. As you look for

opportunities for work and to build your career, tools like your quick

verbal pitch (who you are and your story), your resume, bio, and even

online profiles all act as your front line in communicating who you are

and why people should care. Assess the collection of tools you have at

your fingertips and consider their messaging and positioning of you. Are

they as strong and focused as they can be? Are they compelling? Ask

trusted friends or colleagues for feedback. Get to work on refining them

all, and make keeping them all current a priority. Remember, these

communicate who you are…even when you’re not there.

8. Expose yourself. As you start to gain momentum in your career,

amassing experience, expertise and substance, and as you get more

sophisticated with your branding, positioning, and pitching, it’s time to

take your show on the road. Get out more. Meet new people. Engage in

new organizations, events, conferences and clubs. Your best publicist

should be you. Start talking about what you do everywhere you go…

tactfully. Just be careful not to cross the fuzzy line between confidence

and arrogance. Don’t be obnoxious or obtrusive, however desperately

you want to be accepted and regardless of how accomplished you may

become. Build relationships that are win-win, where everyone feels

valued and respected. Strive to earn credibility and respect by your

actions rather than straight out trying to convince others why you’re a big

deal. That can backfire fast and furiously. Instead, talk about what’s

important to you, your work, and the future of your business. Use your

spotlight to include and help others when you can.

9. Attract the right mentors and advisors. Collect role models, both

people you know and those you only can dream of meeting. When you

meet spectacular people learn all you can from them. Ask them for

advice. Build relationships based on mutual value. Often times older,

more successful people will spend time with you, or more formally

mentor you for the mere opportunity to be exposed to the exciting things

you’re doing, the people you surround yourself with, the feats you

accomplish, or the pace your life moves at. Some may even joke about

living vicariously through you so they can once again experience the rush

of ambition and action, without having to expend the energy or time

themselves. And most people simply like to add value and have their

own opinions and experience valued by others. Repay your mentors and

advisors with your respect and recognition. When they introduce you to

important people in their lives, be referable – worthy of their referral.

Make them proud to share their relationships and resources with you.

10.Sculpt a more perfect environment. In some cases and with some

people, nothing you do will be good enough. Learn to identify these

negative influences and start to weed them out of your life, or at very

least, minimize your exposure. Take an active role in managing the

environment you chose to live and work, even socialize in. Respect and

credibility should be earned, but not at the expense of your own self

respect or worse, compromising your personal values or what’s most

important to you. Be true to yourself. Surround yourself with people who

appreciate, support you, and encourage you in your pursuit of greater

and greater successes. As we like to say at YSN.com, “ambition is the

price of admission”, just make certain you’re putting your energy behind

the right efforts, at the right time, and for the right people.

What’s the best way to sell ourselves and our potential? Build the credibility and

earn the respect you’ve always wanted, starting today.

One final note: Because, as you can see, my definitions of success have a lot to

do with holding yourself to higher standards and being an all around good

person, I have to close with this. Show respect to everyone you meet,

regardless of who they are or where they come from. Strive to become not only

a respected, but a respectful person yourself. As for credibility, along the road

to increasing yours, take every opportunity to help others achieve their own

successes. By all means, raise the standards you hold for yourself and others,

but remember that we all struggle and hurt because of how hard, and often

unfair, others can be to us. Constructive feedback offered with a healthy dose

of respect can be life changing. Harsh criticism and attacks (even well founded)

on others and their credibility, can be cruel and destructive, particularly to

ambitious souls who, if nurtured, could be magnificent. Chose to be one of the

special ones in this world. You’re sure to get so much more than you give.
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