Why you need credibility to be successfulYour ideas are accepted as believable only to the degree that you are credible. If you have credibility, people will place their trust in you, but if you lack it, they'll feel unable to rely on you. Credibility is key to successfully influencing others, both in your personal and business life. Your ability to influence people requires that you be someone worth being influenced by in the first place. What is credibility?Credibility is made up of two parts and very few people can maintain great influence without both of them: Competence - how people regard your intelligence, expertise and knowledge of the subject Perception is everything — it’s important to build expertise and knowledge but being perceived as having it matters much more, and you can’t fake it. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Credibility is all about communication. Effective communication is 55% visual, 38% vocal and 7% verbal. So it's not just what you say, it's how you say it and how you look when you say it - your body language, your voice, your eye contact and facial expressions all play a part. How to build credibility1. Grow your influence - by consciously building your expertise and applying it whenever possible your influence grows. Remember, perception is everything - it's important to build expertise and knowledge but being perceived as having it matters much more. Which means, you can't fake it. It will backfire on you if you are using these as a way to manipulate people or a situation. The good news is that by applying these approaches to build your credibility you will likely be building your perceived expertise as well. Credibility is a combination of both expertise and trustworthiness. They can be built simultaneously. And, with focus and determined actions you can build your credibility - one of the golden keys to unlocking greater influence. About James Hurford Keynote talks
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