“The man who believes he can do it is probably right, and so is the man who believes he can’t.”
-Lawrence J. Peter
To a point, self-confidence and leadership are interconnected. Self-assured leaders inspire confidence in others. As the level of confidence in the leaders rise, the likelihood that their followers will accept their leadership and act and behave as they want them to increases.
As the leader in any field, when you stand before your followers you do so knowing full well that at that very moment, you will be under constant and incessant scrutiny. Every one of your decisions will be questioned, criticized, and second-guessed.
Self-assurance is not the conviction that things will always turn out the way we want or planned, but that there are reasons that make sense regardless of how it turns out.
If you let the critics, pundits, and experts act as the litmus test for your sense of self-worth, you are doomed to utter failure, for these individuals will never be satisfied.
“Sometimes being innovative simply means doing something very common in a more efficient or productive way.”
-Bill Walsh
Physical courage is courage in the face of personal danger, while moral courage is courage or responsibility to others or to a purpose. The latter is what will sustain you best in the face of never-ending expectations. If the result of your confidence and convictions is nothing more than self-aggrandizement, such a self-serving goal will eventually fail you.
On the other hand, I am not attempting to imply that a leader, in order to succeed, does not have to have a healthy ego. I am a firm believe in ego...by pure definition, is the need to distinguish ourselves from others...if I have one fear, it is living a life that common. I want to distinguish myself from others...I don’t mind being egotistical as long as it doesn’t lead to being self-centered, self-serving, and selfish.
“They conquer who believe they can.”
-Virgil
Almost every leader will have to deal with at least one significant setback in their career. The more capable they are of handling negative circumstances, the better able they will be to bounce back from any situation.
“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
-David Brinkley
Leaders who ascribe to the tenets of competitive leadership tend to see the positive side of things. Their vision enables them to frame issues in a constructive, rather than a negative, manner.
