Provide Proof
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have shown that credibility is the foundation of leadership, and they go on to define credibility behaviorally as DWYSYWD: Do What You Say You Will Do. If it’s true that leaders lead by their own example, it follows then that Extreme Leaders lead by their own extreme example. You have to put your skin in the game, put yourself and your reputation at risk. You have to prove yourself through significant, observable, daily action. It’s insanely easy to talk a good game. (How many buzzwords per minute can you crank out?) Do you say you love your team? Prove it! Do you say we need to be bold and inventive for our customers? Prove it! Do you tell your folks that they’re “your most important asset”? Prove it and prove it again in every action that you take.
The minute you say the words, “I can’t do that in this organization” or “they won’t let me,” your credibility as an Extreme Leader is shot. On the other hand, when you are absolutely convinced that you can change your organization, family or community for the better, you have to prove it through the radical courage of your own action. As British management guru, Charles Handy, says in The Hungry Spirit, “If we want to see more of the good news than the bad we will have to do it for ourselves. It is no good waiting for some unidentified ‘they’ to fix our world for us.” Gandhi said it this way: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” And you already know how Nike says it.
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