Coach Me! Your Personal Board of Directors

47 Personal Leadership Brand: How to Take Control of How You “Show Up”

Mongezi C. Makhalima PhD

Dr Mongezi C. Makhalima is an organization development specialist and chartered executive coach with over 30 years of experience in working with organizations and leaders. He is a chairperson of the Africa Board for Coaching, Consulting and Coaching Psychology (ABCCCP) and Thinkers 50 Top 50 Global coach. Mongezi is passionate about inspiring leaders using his knowledge of coaching and psychology.

About 2 years ago, I was invited to coach a number of executives at one of the national government agencies in South Africa. One of the executives I coached in this group raised the issue of her personal reputation. While she performed well and had delivered excellently on her goals under very difficult circumstances, her main challenge was that she was struggling to earn the respect of her peers and recognition as a key contributor within the organization. She especially wanted to reverse the perception of her by the CEO that she was still junior to the rest of the executive team. She was struggling with credibility. And this is a common challenge for many leaders.

After over 30 years of doing this work, one of the key issues I find I deal with a lot in the last 3–5 years in the boardrooms of the world is how leaders “Show up.” A word used often by many coaches that many leaders however seem to struggle to translate into practice.

I define credibility as the ability to create trustworthiness. ...