Every leadership role comes with a question that rarely gets asked out loud, but your people are always answering in their minds:
“Do I trust you enough to follow you?”
Skills, experience, and authority all matter. But without credibility, they don’t add up to much. People may comply with your requests, yet hold back their best ideas, their honest feedback, and their full commitment.
Credibility is not an abstract trait you either “have” or “don’t have.” It’s something you build, day by day, through what you say, how you decide, and how you deliver.
At FranklinCovey, we often talk about four cores of credibility. Two are about who you are as a person (character). Two are about what you can do (competence). Together, they form the foundation of trust.
Before we explore those four cores, it helps to see how credibility already shows up in something as simple as your everyday language.
People decide whether they trust you in the small moments as much as in the big ones. A few habitual phrases, used without much thought, can make the difference between a team that feels blamed and one that feels backed.
Think about the contrast in these examples:
When you say “I” all the time—“I hit the target,” “I need this done”—you subtly signal that results belong to you. When you shift to “we,” you acknowledge what is already true: as a leader you succeed with and through the people around you. That simple shift communicates partnership instead of distance.
When something goes wrong, “You need to fix this” puts the full burden on the other person and often triggers defensiveness. “Let’s figure out how to fix this” still holds people accountable, but it tells them you are on their side and willing to help.
Asking “What are you going to do?” can feel like you’re passing the problem over the fence. Asking “What do you think we should do?” invites thinking, judgment, and ownership. You’re not just assigning a task; you’re engaging a mind.
In tense moments, “Who’s responsible for this?” tends to send people into self-protection. “What’s the best way to resolve this?” keeps attention on solutions. Once the situation is under control, you can still clarify roles and accountability—but without creating unnecessary fear.
These are small shifts in wording, but they reveal something bigger: your underlying character and intent. Over time, those patterns either strengthen or weaken your credibility.
The four cores help you understand what sits beneath those behaviors—and how to strengthen them deliberately.
Credibility rests on two pillars: character and competence.
Character is about why you do what you do—your integrity and your intent toward others.
Competence is about how you do it—your capabilities and your track record of results.
The four cores are:
Integrity – being honest, congruent, and courageous.
Intent – having motives and agendas that genuinely seek mutual benefit.
Capabilities – having the talents, skills, knowledge, and style to do the job well.
Results – having a history of delivering what you promised, and doing it in the right way.
You don’t need to be perfect in all four. But if even one is consistently weak, people will hesitate to trust you fully.
Let’s look at each core more closely.
If you imagine a tree, integrity is the root system. Most of the time, it’s invisible. But it feeds everything else. Without healthy roots, the trunk weakens, the branches dry out, and the fruit eventually disappears.
Many leaders think of integrity simply as “not lying.” That’s a start, but it’s too narrow. Credible integrity usually includes three qualities working together:
Honesty and congruence. You say what you mean, you don’t hide the truth, and your actions line up with your words. People don’t see one version of you in front of them and hear another story behind closed doors.
Humility. You know you don’t have all the answers. You’re willing to admit mistakes, ask for help, and give credit to others. Humility actually strengthens authority because it makes you more real and more reliable.
Courage. You’re willing to do the right thing even when it’s uncomfortable—whether that’s challenging a popular but harmful decision, giving honest feedback, or standing up for someone who doesn’t have a voice.
You can strengthen your integrity in concrete ways. Start by paying attention to the promises you make, especially the small ones. When you say you’ll send a note, join a meeting, or look into an issue, treat that as a commitment. Fulfilling these “everyday promises” builds a reputation for reliability.
It also helps to be clear about what you stand for. When your values are explicit—both to yourself and to others—you are more likely to act consistently, even under pressure. And when you do get it wrong, being open about it and taking responsibility often deepens, rather than damages, people’s trust.
Intent is about what sits behind your actions. People want to know: What are you really trying to achieve? Who are you looking out for?
Even if your words are polished, people will feel it when your intent is self-serving.
Intent has three parts: your motive, your agenda, and your behavior.
Motive is the “why” behind your decisions. Do you genuinely care about your people, your customers, and the wider organization? Or are you primarily focused on protecting yourself and your status? Leaders who inspire trust usually have motives grounded in contribution and purpose.
Agenda is what you plan to promote because of that motive. When your agenda is to find solutions that benefit everyone involved—your team, your stakeholders, your clients—people sense that you are playing a long game, not trying to score quick wins at their expense.
Behavior is what people can see. It’s how you allocate resources, whose side you take in a conflict, whose voices you invite into the room. Even with good motives, inconsistent behavior can send the wrong message.
A useful practice is to examine your motives before key conversations or decisions. Ask yourself, “If I were on the other side of this, what would I think my intent is?” If the answer makes you uncomfortable, be honest about that and adjust.
Declaring your intent out loud can also be powerful. For example: “My goal in this discussion is to make sure we land on a decision that is fair to all teams and sustainable for our customers.” When you do this—and then act in line with it—people know what to look for and are more likely to trust your direction.
Finally, notice whether you operate from scarcity (“If someone else wins, I lose”) or abundance (“There is a way for everyone to benefit”). An abundant mindset doesn’t mean saying yes to everything; it means you actively look for solutions where more than one party can win.
If integrity is the root, capabilities are like the branches of the tree. They’re what allow you to reach out, take on new challenges, and produce real outcomes.
In a fast-changing world, yesterday’s expertise can quickly become today’s limitation. Leaders who hold on to old skill sets without updating them can unintentionally undermine their own credibility. People may trust their character, but quietly question whether they’re still equipped to lead.
One way to think about capabilities is through the lens of TASKS:
Your talents – natural strengths you’ve had for a long time.
Your attitudes – the way you see the world and your willingness to grow.
Your skills – what you can actually do well, from coaching to financial analysis.
Your knowledge – what you understand about your industry, your customers, and your craft.
Your style – how you show up; your communication and relational approach.
Building credibility in this core isn’t about becoming excellent at everything. It’s about knowing where you’re strong, where you’re average, and where you need help—and then taking deliberate steps to stay relevant.
That may mean deepening your understanding of your clients’ context, strengthening your ability to lead in a hybrid environment, or learning to use new tools that matter in your role. It may also mean surrounding yourself with people whose strengths complement yours and openly relying on them.
Teams and organizations notice when leaders invest in their own development. It signals that you take your responsibilities seriously and that you are committed to being the kind of leader the future will need, not just the one the past rewarded.
The fourth core is the one most visible to others: results. If the roots are healthy and the branches are strong, the fruit should be clear to see.
Results are the tangible evidence that your integrity, intent, and capabilities are coming together. They include the numbers on the dashboard—revenue, quality, retention, on-time delivery—but also the less visible outcomes like engagement, readiness for change, and the health of your culture.
People usually evaluate results in three timeframes:
What has this person or team delivered in the past?
What are they delivering right now?
Do I believe they can deliver in the future?
This is why one “good year” rarely establishes lasting credibility, and one “bad quarter” doesn’t necessarily destroy it. People look at the pattern.
Strengthening this core starts with taking responsibility. Credible leaders own the outcomes of their team. They don’t hide behind external factors, even when those factors are real. They’re honest about setbacks and proactive about learning from them.
They also cultivate a mindset that expects progress. Not blind optimism, but a grounded belief that improvement is possible, that the team can find a way, and that their efforts matter. That expectation often becomes self-fulfilling, because it shapes how you show up, the goals you set, and how you respond when things get tough.
Finally, credible leaders “finish strong.” They don’t lose focus when a project is near completion, when a change program is almost embedded, or when a quarter looks like it will hit its target anyway. They keep standards high through to the end, knowing that people remember how things ended at least as much as how they began.
The four cores of credibility are deeply connected. Integrity without results can turn into being “nice but ineffective.” Results without integrity can generate short-term wins that leave a long trail of distrust. Strong capabilities without clear intent can come across as clever but self-serving.
When you strengthen all four together, people around you experience something different. They see a leader who:
Says what they mean and follows through.
Genuinely cares about others and looks for mutual benefit.
Keeps learning and stays relevant.
Delivers on commitments in a way that lifts the team, not just the numbers.
You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. You can start small:
Pay attention to the words you use—“I” or “we,” blame or partnership.
Name your intent before important conversations.
Choose one capability to deliberately sharpen over the next quarter.
Make one meaningful commitment and keep it visibly.
Over time, these deliberate choices compound. Your credibility grows. Trust around you deepens. And the work of leadership—aligning people, navigating change, delivering results—becomes not easier, but more possible, because people are willing to walk with you.