This bookdeals with
leadership at a personal level: relationships, the self, appreciating others, focusing on values, building
capacity, having courage and hopeand essentially being 'real' and authentic. It is not at all 'fluffly' however. The authors, bothexecutives andacademics,base their publication on thorough research. They investigated thespecific behaviors of leaders and the effect of these behaviors on those with whom they worked or otherwise engaged.The concept of servant
leadership as an attitude and practice permeates the book. A model of distributed leadership dovetails nicely with the ideas in
Credibility. Anyone can benefit from this book - whether in a formal leadership position or not.At itscore,the book revealsthefour characteristics of admired leaders: honest, forward-looking, inspiring and competent and explains how togain credibility. There are six things a person needs to do: discover oneself, appreciate others, affirm shared values, build capacity, serve a purpose and sustain hope. There is a separate chapter on each of these disciplines. Admittedly,the life of organizations is complex - repleat with a myriad of struggles and tensions. This book argues that credibility is thefoundation for a life well lived and is the essence of what it means to be an authentichuman being.