{"id":7540,"date":"2022-04-18T20:14:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T01:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/?p=7540"},"modified":"2022-04-18T20:14:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T01:14:32","slug":"4-ways-exaggeration-can-be-causing-your-leadership-credibility-to-take-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/18\/4-ways-exaggeration-can-be-causing-your-leadership-credibility-to-take-a-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways Exaggeration Can Be Causing Your Leadership Credibility To Take A Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a leader you must certainly project optimism. But when you cross the line into exaggeration or hyperbole, your leadership is facing significant risks.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

A leader in my orbit once described a very average meeting we had been in as \u201cQuite possibly our best meeting ever!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The statement was so over-the-top, and so removed from any sense of reality, that he took a serious credibility hit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How many of these statements, or statements like them, have you used?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n

    \u201cThat was the best (event, class, earnings quarter, meeting) we\u2019ve ever had!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n

    \u201cThis will be the best (board retreat, youth outreach, stockholders meeting) ever!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n

    \u201cThere is an unbelievable sense of momentum and excitement building in our (church, company, ministry, club)!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    If you find that these types of hyped-up, hyperbole-filled statements are creeping into your leadership communication, watch out. Your leadership could be taking hits that you\u2019re not even aware of.<\/p>\n

    You can be seen as inauthentic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Let\u2019s face it. Not\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0event can be the \u2018best ever\u2019. If you use this kind of language excessively people will start to see you less as a leader, and more as a \u2018pitch-man\u2019.<\/p>\n

    Remember, you need to cast vision, not sell a Sham-Wow.<\/p>\n

    You can lose credibility<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    You know that event you described as the \u2018best ever\u2019? Well guess what. Your people were there, and they know it\u00a0wasn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0the best ever.<\/p>\n

    When your communication creates a gap between what your people know to be true, and what you\u00a0claim<\/em>\u00a0to be true, you start to lose credibility.<\/p>\n

    Young people start to tune out<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Young people today have their radar on \u2018full alert\u2019 for anything that smells like hyperbole, exaggeration or hype.<\/p>\n

    You can\u2019t afford to alienate this group with you communication.<\/p>\n

    You create a culture of desperation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    As a leader your words have a powerful ability to form and shape culture.<\/p>\n

    When your communication is flavored with constant hype you are creating a culture of desperation. For your followers it\u2019s a short walk from desperation to suspicion.<\/p>\n

    Because of my own optimistic nature, I\u2019ve learned that I need to be vigilant to ensure that hyperbole doesn\u2019t creep into my own communication.<\/p>\n

    And I would urge you to be just as vigilant.<\/p>\n

    Because what you lose in \u2018hype\u2019 you\u2019ll more than make up for in authenticity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a leader you must certainly project optimism. But when you cross the line into exaggeration or hyperbole, your leadership is facing significant risks. A leader in my orbit once described a very average meeting we had been in as \u201cQuite possibly our best meeting ever!\u201d The statement was so over-the-top, and so removed from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1033,1017,1032,478,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authentic","category-communication","category-credibility","category-featured","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7541,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7540\/revisions\/7541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}