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50 TOP EXECUTIVE COACHES
eadership is a relationship. It’s a relationship between those who aspire
to lead and those who choose to follow. Sometimes, the relationship is
one to one. Sometimes, it’s one to many. Regardless of the number, leaders
must master the dynamics of this relationship. The mastery of the leader-
constituent relationship has been the focus of my leadership development
work for over twenty years. Whether I’m speaking, teaching, coaching, or re-
searching I am a fanatic about improving the quality of the relationship be-
tween those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow.
So, what’s the foundation of this relationship? For over two decades and
across six continents, my coauthor, Barry Posner, and I have asked people
what they look for and admire in a leader, someone whose direction they
would willingly follow. In all those years, the response has been the same. The
most important quality people look for and admire in a leader is personal
credibility. Credibility is the foundation of leadership. If we don’t believe in the
messenger, we won’t believe the message.
And what is credibility behaviorally? The most frequent response we get is
“Do what you say you will do,” or “DWYSYWD” for short. You hear this
message reinforced daily in expressions such as:
• Practice what you preach.
• Put your money where your mouth is.
• Walk the talk.
• Actions speak louder than words.
• You have to have the courage of your convictions.
Embedded in these everyday expressions are the two essential ingredients to
earning and sustaining personal credibility. First, leaders must be clear about
their beliefs. They must know what they stand for. That’s the say
part. Then,
they must put what they say into practice; they must act on their beliefs. That’s
the do part.
But leaders don’t just speak or act in their own personal interests. Leaders
represent groups of people, and when leaders speak and act they ’re doing so on
behalf of others. Personal credibility is maintained when you
do what you say,
but leadership
credibility means that you have to “Do what we
say we will
do,” or DWWSWWD.
This simple and intuitive framework, but one based in solid research,
forms the foundation of all the coaching work that I do. We call it the Say-
We-Do model. It involves three challenges in the developmental effort:
• The Clarity Challenge
• The Unity Challenge
• The Intensity Challenge
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