Leadership: Leader Have To Walk the Talk

Leader Have To Walk the Talk
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Leader Have To Walk the Talk
Trust is one of the essential elements of successful leadership. All of the skill, experience and even results all seem to lose meaning when trust is lost. It is vital for leaders to align their actions to their words to win the trust of other members of the team. But this is not always the case; there are examples of internationally or nationally recognized leaders who have lost their followers because they espoused one message and then acted in a different manner. The story of Lance Armstrong demonstrates how devastating it can be when a leader’s actions are inconsistent with their words.
Marquis and Huston (2009) emphasize the need for nurse leaders to walk the talk and set an example in the healthcare setting. People tend to pay more attention to what a leader does more than what they say, and they engage more when a leader is committed to what they say. “Trust is like change in a leader’s pocket. Each time you make a good leadership decision, you earn more change. Each time you make poor decisions, you pay out some of your change to the people” (Horsager, 2012). That is, when leaders gain the trust of their employees there are better relationships, reputations, retention, and results. But when trust is low, the more time everything takes the more everything costs and the lower the loyalty of everyone involved.
Lance Armstrong was the best American cyclist in history and the greatest of his generation. He dominated the competition in his glory days as he won a record seven Tour de France victories and was a great inspiration to many cyclists and fans because he was a cancer survivor. He was the face of American cycling, and renowned brands such as Nike sponsored him. The greatest beneficially of his fame was his Livestrong non-profit cancer foundation. Like many other Tour winners, he was firmly against doping in the sport.
In 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released its evidence against Armstrong which shed light on his doping activities on the U.S. Postal Service Cyclin...