What do the best communicators do better than good ones?

1.  They have credibility.

If you had a million-dollar house, you wouldn’t use duct tape to attach your mailbox, would you?  The mailbox is the first thing that people see.  People wouldn’t see your house because they couldn’t stop seeing the duct tape.

Likewise, a communicator with low credibility will distract the audience and make it impossible for people to hear the message.  It’s better to not deliver a message rather than have a message delivered by someone who lacks credibility.

Credibility is two things. Your personal credibility is your integrity and honesty.  It’s being known for doing the right thing. Michael Scott from “The Office” doesn’t have much credibility when he opts to do his own sexual harassment training.  Your professional credibility is about being an expert in what you are representing. Warren Buffett has great credibility communicating to investors; he would not carry much clout extolling the virtues of PEX tubing over polyethylene tubing at a convention of plumbers.  Plumbing is not Buffett’s area of expertise.

Want your listener or reader to tune in instead of tune out?

Make certain you are characterized by integrity and have a high level of expertise in your topic.