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Confidence Is A Choice—Not A Symptom

    Home People Leadership Confidence Is A Choice—Not A Symptom

    Confidence Is A Choice—Not A Symptom

    By Carolyn Stevens | People Leadership, You As A Leader | 0 comment | 18 June, 2014 | 0

    Seth Godin, whom I must say is the most consistently stimulating and highly creative author I’ve ever encountered, strikes again in my Leadership Bulletin this month .

    This time it’s with a reminder of a pivotal insight into a setting that we each encounter day-by-day, even minute-by-minute…

    Seth said:

    “The batter has already hit two home runs. When he gets up to bat for the third time, his confidence is running high…

     

    It’s easy to feel confident when we’re on a roll, when the cards are going our way, or we’re closing sales right and left. This symptomatic confidence, one built on a recent series of successes, isn’t particularly difficult to accomplish, or useful.

     

    Effective confidence comes from within. It’s not the result of external events. The confident salesperson is likely to close more sales. The confident violinist expresses more of the music. The confident leader points us to the places we want (and need) to go.

     

    You succeed because you’ve chosen to be confident. It’s not really useful to require yourself to be successful before you’re able to become confident.”

     

    The Confident Leader…

    “The confident leader points us to the places we want (and need) to go.”

    Doesn’t this statement drill to the core of what it is to be a “great leader”?

    Therefore, the most important question I can ask you today is…

    How often, how effective and how influentially are you pointing your team and your organisation to the places they need to go?

    Following Seth’s line of thought, when you do this…

    You’ve chosen to be a confident leader.

    And you’ll succeed because you’ve chosen to be confident.

     

    Your Leadership Call To Action

    Given that you want to have a maximally positive impact on your team, your organisation and your career, where else and when else could you be pointing?

    Ah, that’s your “homework”—to answer that question. Where else and when else could you be pointing?

    Keep that index finger strong and confident!

     

     

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Carolyn Stevens has worked with leaders for more than 25-years—hundreds of them.

    She’s supported leader after leader (including those who previously struggled to confront the difficult, let alone persuasively deal with the it) flourish—and become confident, courageous and impressively influential.

    Carolyn is authentic and results-oriented. She draws on an eclectic array of approaches, tools and techniques to suit the situation.

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