The Credibility Gap™

When everyone can sound good, are you worth believing?

AI can make almost anyone sound authoritative. The Credibility Gap Test helps you determine whether your communication gives people a genuine reason to believe you.

Created by Nick Leighton | Speaker, author and communications strategist

Preview of the one-page Credibility Gap Test showing four checklists, a competitor test, and scoring guidance
One page. Four tests. Twelve questions.

AI has changed the economics of expertise.

It has never been easier to create polished, intelligent-sounding communication.

That’s useful. But it creates a new problem.

Sounding authoritative and having authority are no longer the same thing.

The distance between the two is The Credibility Gap™.

Before you publish, ask four questions.

Authority

Why you?

What experience or expertise gives you the right to have a view?

Evidence

Prove it.

What turns your assertion into something worth believing?

Specificity

What do you know that AI doesn’t?

Where is the knowledge that could only have come from your experience?

Point of view

What do you actually believe?

Have you reached a conclusion worth sharing?

Get the one-page Credibility Gap Test

The competitor test

Try this now.

Take your latest article, executive post, white paper or piece of thought leadership.

Remove your name.

Remove your executive’s name.

Remove your company.

Remove your logo.

Now replace them with your closest competitor’s.

Could they
publish it?

Yes You probably have a Credibility Gap.

No Good. There’s something here that belongs to you.

Use it before your next piece of communication goes live.

One page. Four tests. Twelve questions.

No 47-page ebook. No complicated methodology. Just a practical way to challenge whether your communication deserves to be believed.

Download the test

Print it. Share it with your team. Keep it next to your monitor.

The actual printable Credibility Gap Test with twelve checkboxes and scoring instructions

Coming soon

Want to know where your Credibility Gap is?

We’re building a deeper assessment that scores your communication across Authority, Evidence, Specificity and Point of View, and identifies where your biggest credibility gap lies.

The one-page test is free to download above, no email needed. Read our Privacy Policy.

Who came up with this?

Nick Leighton has spent more than 25 years helping organizations and executives build influence through communication. He’s the founder of international communications agency NettResults, a business coach, author and speaker.

The Credibility Gap™ grew from his work exploring what happens to trust, authority and influence when AI makes high-quality communication almost infinitely abundant.

AI can help you sound authoritative.
Your job is to earn the authority.

When everyone can sound good, be worth believing.

Download the Credibility Gap Test