It is the rare human being who can maintain confidence 100% of the time. Even the best of leaders experience dips in confidence from time to time, from context to context and from situation to situation.

The key is building your ‘confidence’ muscles.

I believe confidence can be cross-contextual. By that I mean having success in one area of life can be used as a reference point from which we can borrow confidence while we build it in that new area of our personal or professional life.

To raise the bar on your confidence as a lead­er I'd like to offer you 3 concepts to focus on that can provide a roadmap for creating higher levels of confidence in whatever en­deavor you are embarking on, and especially in your role as a leader:

Certainty – Certainty is defined as the state of being free from doubt or reservation, des­tined, sure to happen, inevitable, bound to come. Certainty is how confidence is pro­jected by leaders and it's a skill that also has to be developed along with confidence. Certainty comes from experience and through developing your beliefs and values about yourself, your role as a leader, the world, your organization, the marketplace, etc. One of the key skills to nurture and to develop your level of certainty is perspicacity or a keen­ness of mental perception and discernment, which helps in decision-making and problem solving.

Clarity – Many years ago I attended a work­shop by Anthony Robbins and one of the most powerful things he said that day I'll nev­er forget. His message was "clarity is power." I've learned over the years that is a very true statement. Without clarity it's tough to see where you are going and a leader without clarity is not much of a leader.

There are many contexts a leader needs clar­ity on which can be overwhelming. I want to start at home by having you focus on key areas first to build your confidence and cer­tainty as a leader:

• Your Leadership “Identity”
• Your Strengths
• Your Areas for Growth and Development
• Your persuasiveness. This is your skill at mo­tivating others to follow your lead or adopt your idea. No idea, however great, ever gets anywhere until it’s adopted.
• Your Team Strengths and Talents

Capability – This is defined as having power and ability, being efficient and competent. And, there are six fundamental areas lead­ers need to not just be capable of but must master:

• Influencing communication skills
• Visionary thinking
• Decision-making
• Problem-solving
• Delegation
• Emotional Mastery

© Skip Weisman. All Rights Reserved.