Compassion is the ability to understand and communicate that we recognize each other as fallible human beings. It means that we understand that people make mistakes, sometimes fail, and do not always live up to their potential or to our expectations. Dealing with our strengths and weaknesses as people and doing so with dignity and respect for others are all part of compassion. When we do not judge others and are sensitive to their situations, we build trust with them, opening the door for them to be honest and straightforward with us.
While candor refers to the accuracy of communication, credibility refers to the intent of the person offering it. A person’s motive for sharing information with you speaks to his credibility.Are his motives self-serving? Is he giving you information to make others look bad? Partners that are not credible limit trust because people must sift through the message to understand the intent. Once partners weaken their credibility, their effectiveness and that of the partnership are severely damaged.
Whenever you move from “I” to “we” in a partnership, trust issues emerge. Unless partners can reach a consensus, they’ll find that power plays, egos, conflicting agendas, and other disruptive dynamics can take over even well-intentioned partnerships and spin them into chaos and dysfunction. Trust is absolutely essential for working through these complex human dynamics.
The majority of price movements that is caused by a rating action is explained by new information which is revealed at the time of the rating action. Typically companies reserve the right to hold back certain information from investors, clients, business partners and competitors. This can be long-term projections, business plans or internal analyses. Usually rating agencies have access to internal documents during their rating process. Therefore, the rating of a company reflects more information than available to the public and to institutional investors such as mutual funds or insurance companies. A rating change itself is therefore an information about a change of a company’s credit quality because it incorporates nonpublic information.
Thought needs to be given to how one avoids head-on confrontation with the market leader, the brand with the most to lose. The market leader can be expected to react strongly against newcomers with the aim of crushing them before they have a chance to get established. The brand that is attacking the market leader therefore needs a valuable, attention-grabbing benefit or distinguishing feature, and the ability to convey its message convincingly. Once a position has been taken, the decisions that follow should ensure that it is consistently defended. Consistency is essential: positioning means striving for leadership in one particular area. Another important decision is therefore the choice of a powerful and simple message. For example, Volkswagen launched the Beetle in the United States with the slogan “Small is Beautiful” and for many years Mars bars purported to help you “Work, Rest and Play” (particularly if eaten every day). But you must know how the message will be received. Often the best way to establish a position is to associate with something that may already be in people’s minds. An example is customers’ desire for value, highlighted by low-cost airlines, such as easyJet, Ryanair and South-West Airlines, which emphasise their no-frills service and low prices.