• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

How in(credible) are you?

Published: Wednesday, 18 February 2009

In order to be incredible, you first have to credible - to have people who trust you and your ability.

 

The winner of the 2007 TED Prize was awarded $100 000 for his wish of creating a world-class health system in Rwanda. He wrote the following to TED:

 

I wish you to help create a better future for Rwanda by assisting my foundation, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the whole country.

 

Sounds incredible, doesn’t it?

 

But what if I told you the winner was Bill Clinton, ex-Commander in Chief of the United States of America? That’s credible.

 

When Richard Branson was in talks to sell Student Magazine to IPC Magazine, he shared his ideas for extending Student into a travel agency, bank, nightclub, hotel, train service, and airline with the board of directors. They thought his dreams were incredible and immediately backed out of the deal to buy his magazine. They didn’t want a loony guy running one of their magazine subsidiaries!

 

Now, over forty-years and eight billion-dollar companies built from scratch in eight different industries later, when Richard Branson speaks and outlines his plans for the future, people sit up and listen. Richard Branson is credible.

 

How credible are you to achieve your incredible goals? Work on your credibility, and you will achieve the incredible.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Plates

    "If you have too much on your plate, get a bigger plate." I first heard this when I was doing a leadership course in London in 2009.  Everyone in the...

  • Over-exposure

    Telling people your plans too early doesn't make you less likely to achieve them.  I know when I tell people what I plan to do the response I get...

  • Non-profit founder critics

    Why are people so critical when young people start non-profits? Time and time again, I hear people say, "there are enough non-profits out there....

  • Perfection is an oasis

    Perfection is unattainable.  You're never going to get something that's perfect, done.  Not with your budget.  Not with your timeframe.  Not so that you...

  • A Day in the Life at Singularity University

    From June 13 - August 23, I am staying at NASA AMES Research Park, funded by Google, studying with 80 people from around the world in Singularity...

  • Everything is perfect

    Whatever anyone does, whatever anyone says, is aligned with how they see the world. And so decisions people make are always perfect for them in the...

  • Al Jazeera Women Make Science Documentary

    From September to December 2019, Al Jazeera English followed me around and filmed an update on all my projects: Robogals, Aipoly, Teleport, my...

  • Think about you, think about me

    People don't think about you.  They're too busy worrying about how you think about them.

  • Iclif Leadership Energy Award

    Super stoked to have been awarded the Leadership Energy Summit Asia‘s (LESA) Iclif Leadership Energy Award’s (ILEA) Business Leader Award from the...

  • Chinese History Museum

    The Chinese History Museum invited me to be part of their exhibition on notable Chinese Australians. In February, over Chinese New Year, my mum came to...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top