I recently attended a leadership conference for women (don’t worry gents—there were men in attendance as well!), and one of the key take away messages for me was all about confidence. Keynote speaker, Katty Kay, A BBC journalist and co-author of the book The Confidence Code, spoke on the topic of confidence and how it directly impacts our ability to succeed. Co-author of The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman, provides the following recommendations to build confidence:
1. Fail Fast: According to Shipman, we need to be willing to fail and risk failure in order to succeed. Becoming more comfortable with failure and the idea that if we don't fail we don't succeed is necessary. This also includes the idea that not every decision and action has to be perfect, accept things that are good enough.
2. Act More, Think Less: Shipman talked about the propensity to ruminate and the importance for us to "stop rumination.” In order to accomplish this, Shipman recommends finding an alternative explanation for what you are ruminating about and embracing that explanation in order to stop the obsession.
3. Authenticity: "Authenticity is critical to confidence" according to Shipman. She also adds that confidence does not necessarily mean that you are the loudest voice in the room, "confidence can be quiet and is often times about listening".
Educating one another on the importance of confidence and pushing one another to build this confidence allows for closure of the confidence gap and increased opportunities for success.
Link to resource here.