How to build your business credibility

As tales of massive fraudsters take over in the news, businesspeople may be increasingly edgy nowadays about ... just about everyone with whom they interact. One expert calls it a “;trust crisis.”;

Human resources consultant Sandy Allgeier has tips on how to maintain and build your business credibility, which she defines as “;what we do and how we do it that causes others to find us believable, someone that can be trusted, someone that can be respected.”;

» Don't be late, don't reschedule too often and keep your commitments.

» Don't make immediate decisions. Nurture your ability to suspend knee-jerk judgments. Ask questions and think over situations before offering an opinion.

» Be self-aware. Understand how you come across to others and what your strengths and weaknesses are. If you are honest and objective with yourself, you are more able to be open with others, better at building trust and better able to tell others what they need to work on, Allgeier says.

» Have humility and acknowledge making mistakes. Ask others how you can improve.

» Don't constantly make excuses for negligent behavior—instead apologize, learn from mistakes and don't let them recur.

» Avoid blaming others for mistakes, even if it is justified; instead seek to rectify a problematic situation without singling out individuals for errors.

More immigrants head back home

More and more young, tech-savvy, well-educated Indian and Chinese immigrants are packing it up in the United States and heading back home, says Duke professor and Harvard researcher Vivek Wadhwa.

He conducted a survey on why recent returnees elected to go back to India and China for the Kauffman Foundation.

“;The majority of people like it better back home,”; Wadhwa said. “;The U.S. isn't everything anymore ... This is great for India and China, but what we've done is export economic recovery.”;

He estimates that while 50,000 Indian and 50,000 Chinese immigrants returned home in the past 20 years, there will be 100,00 Indians and 100,000 Chinese immigrants leaving the U.S. in the next five years.

The factors driving return were not primarily visa issues, the survey found, but feelings that career opportunities were better at home, a desire to be close to friends and family, and better quality of life.

The survey randomly polled 1,203 Indian and Chinese employees in their home countries who had worked or gone to school in the U.S. and who were members of the social networking site LinkedIn.com.