Would you say the main thrust of your communications reflects your competence, or character?
It's a question Roger Christie puts to leaders in his workshops, and - in this episode - one his guest answers with hard data.
Shahar Silbershatz is the co-founder and CEO of Caliber, a stakeholder intelligence firm in Copenhagen that has spent years measuring what actually earns trust for some of the world's biggest brands, including Airbus, Audi, Microsoft and Coca-Cola.
His finding is striking, and it holds across years of data: when it comes to driving trust, character beats competence, every time. Innovation, differentiation and even leadership have quietly become \"hygiene factors\" - the price of entry. Particularly in an AI-generated and synthesised world, what genuinely sets organisations and leaders apart is character (and, above all, integrity - the sense that you do what you say). The catch is that character is far harder to prove, and it demands consistency across every behaviour, and every decision.
In this conversation, Shahar and Roger explore why it is easier to be visible than understood, the risks that come from being loud but hollow, and the evidence needed to make decisions with confidence about the best approach leaders and organisations should take today. It's full of practical guidance for anyone weighing up how visible they should be, and how they can build and maintain belief with key stakeholders once seen.
TIMESTAMPS
03:26 - How reputation forms: awareness versus familiarity
06:40 - The hard part: visible versus understood
09:15 - Listen first: reputation is what you do, not what you say
12:24 - Character beats competence: inside the driver analysis
19:44 - Authenticity is not vulnerability, and the loud-but-hollow trap
22:11 - When the CEO is the wrong spokesperson
24:49 - AI, synthetic content and the authenticity backlash
31:11 - Why most people don't link the CEO to the company, and why B2B is different
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