Welum had the opportunity to interview Jenni Field, the author of the book: Nobody Believes You: Become a Leader People Will Follow, who is an expert in leadership credibility and internal communication. She is an impressive speaker, and inspiring leader and is globally recognized in the communication industry as a force for change in the way leaders and organizations communicate with their teams.
Jenni, you specialize in helping organizations go from chaos to calm, what drove you to write the book Nobody Believes You: Become a Leader People Will Follow?
As a consultant, I spend time with teams inside organizations to help them improve communication. This can be to help the organization be more efficient to improve engagement, or to explore how to shift culture, etc. I’m often looking at organizations that are a bit chaotic and we need to look at communication and culture to improve things.
Over the years, the root cause of some of that chaos has been the leadership team. It’s something we shy away from and try and work around with communication and engagement campaigns, but in the current world of work, we can’t ignore it anymore.
That’s why I started to explore the role of credibility in leadership and what led to the publication of the book. I started to explore whether credibility was a better focus for leaders than authenticity in 2019 and this led to my research into why people follow some leaders and not others, and what leaders believe makes them credible.
During the last 5 years, that work, and research led to the creation of the eight practices of credible leadership, which is what the book explores.
In the description of your book, you point out that as a leader being credible is more important than being authentic, why is that? And can you share some strategies to be credible?
We don’t want leaders to be authentic. We want them to be genuine, but that isn’t the same thing. Being authentic has been the answer to every leadership problem in recent years. Articles say that it will enhance trust, encourage innovation, and boost employee engagement, but it can do the exact opposite. And in a world that is more divided than it has been in modern times, being authentic can become a dangerous weapon.
If you think about the leaders in the public eye, you might start to consider whether they are authentic and whether you want to follow them. Politicians and high-profile business leaders are excellent examples—some are very authentic, but does that make people want to follow them?
“I’m just being my authentic self” is an easy statement after you’ve shouted at someone, swearing at someone, disrespected someone, or isolated someone. It’s an easy excuse for behavior that is not acceptable for those who lead others. Because when you lead others, you’re in a position of power. For leaders to be believed and followed, they need to be credible, not authentic.
There are a lot of books that address the issue of leadership and/or communication what added value does your book bring in this field?
There are very few books on leadership written by someone with expertise in communication. This book is designed to focus on communication and behaviors that will build and improve credibility.
Credibility is what happens when effective communication meets true accountability. I wanted to write something truly practical. So many books share a broad view on topics without practical things leaders and managers can do to build empathy or show vulnerability. I wanted to write something useful from the minute you finish a chapter.
Who is the book for? Where can people get it?
The book is for any leader, manager, or emerging leader looking to build their core leadership skills. If they are struggling with people believing them, trusting them, or following them, this book will help them be the leader every team needs.
You can get the book from Amazon and other retailers. You can buy an exclusive signed hardback copy direct from me: Nobody Believes You | Redefining Communications
Anything else you want to add?
If people want to explore where to start, we have a free online credibility gap assessment they can complete. This will help them identify which one of the 8 practices needs attention first: How credible are you?
