If you want to strengthen how you are viewed as a leader, keep confidential information confidential.
As a leader, you will be privy to quite a bit of confidential information. Whether it is a product launch, new HR policy, an acquisition, impending layoffs, a performance issue, something a team member has done, etc., you will be made aware of information which should not be shared. And for some reason, we humans like to be the ones “in the know,” and we like to let others know that we are “in the know”. (I am sure there is a psychological explanation for this.) Don’t do it!
People want to be able to trust their leaders. They want to trust that information shared in confidence will remain that way. I had a very wise leader tell me recently, “The power isn’t in knowing the information. The power is in keeping the information confidential.” So true.
As a leader, your level of credibility is in direct proportion to the amount of trust people have in you. A significant portion of that trust is related to your ability to keep important and interesting information to yourself.