Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It, Revised Edition Revised Edition

One of Industry Week’s Top Ten Best Management Books

A Main Selection of The Executive Program Book Club

“Leadership is personal. It’s not about the corporation, the community, or the country. It’s about you. If people don’t believe in the messenger, they won’t believe the message. If people don’t believe in you, they won’t believe in what you say. And if it’s about you, then it’s about your beliefs, your values, your principles.”– from Credibility

In this best-selling book, Kouzes and Posner (authors of The Leadership Challenge), explain why leadership is above all a relationship, with credibility as the cornerstone. They provide rich examples of real managers in action and reveal the six key disciplines and related practices that strengthen a leader’s capacity for developing and sustaining credibility. Kouzes and Posner show how leaders can encourage greater initiative, risk-taking, and productivity by demonstrating trust in employees and resolving conflicts on the basis of principles, not positions.

“Make room on your bookshelf for Credibility. Here is a much-needed human approach to leadership, finally focusing on issues that really matter– honesty, sensitivity to diversity, and the need for community.”
— Ken Blanchard, chairman, Blanchard Training and Development, Inc., and coauthor, The One Minute Manager

James M. Kouzes is chairman emeritus of the Tom Peters Company and an executive fellow at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. Barry Z. Posner is dean of the Leavey School of Business and professor of leadership at Santa Clara University.
Kouzes and Posner are the coauthors of The Leadership Challenge, Encouraging the Heart, and The Leadership Challenge Planner. They also developed the highly acclaimed Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) and LPIOnline.com, 360-degree assessment tools based on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.