Building Confidence as a Leader

Marshall Goldsmith, renowned author and Harvard Professor, posted against the question of “What can I do to build my confidence in my capabilities as a leader?”

This is pretty straightforward stuff but a refresher on what keeps us at the top should never be scoffed at. In summary, remember to believe in yourself, don’t worry about being perfect, put up a brave front, and do the best you possibly can. Anything short of that will cause you to slip.

Marshall shared a few more pointers I thought you might enjoy:

1. Don’t worry about being perfect. There are never right or wrong answers to complex business decisions. The best that you can do as a leader is to gather all of the information that you can (in a timely manner), do a cost-benefit analysis of potential options, use your best judgment — and then go for it.
2. Learn to live with failure. Great salespeople are the ones who get rejected the most often. They just ask for the order more than the other salespeople. You are going to make mistakes. You are human. Learn from these mistakes and move on.
3. After you make the final decision — commit! Don’t continually second-guess yourself. Great leaders communicate with a sense of belief in what they are doing and with positive expectations toward the achievement of their vision.
4. Show courage on the outside — even if you don’t always feel it on the inside. Everyone is afraid sometimes. If you are a leader, your direct reports will read your every expression. If you show a lack of courage, you will begin to damage your direct reports’ self-confidence.
5. Find happiness and contentment in your work. Life is short. My extensive research indicates that we are all going to die anyway. Do your best. Follow your heart. When you win, celebrate. When you lose, just start over the next day.

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