Leadership and Self-Confidence

Abstract

Self-confidence has two aspects: general self-confidence, which is a stable personality trait that develops in early childhood, and specific self-confidence, which is a changing mental and emotional state associated with the specific task or situation at-hand. We develop both types of self-confidence through automatic, mostly unconscious, internal dialogues whereby we make judgements about ourselves based on our experiences and others' feedback. While both types of self-confidence profoundly affect our thoughts, emotions and behavior, our level of general self-confidence is important primarily in new and unusual circumstances while specific self-confidence is pertinent to our everyday performance. High levels of both types are essential for effective leadership and enable the leader to influence his collaborators, or followers, to build task-specific self-confidences that can strengthen their job performance. The chapter includes instructions for a conscious mental process called self-leadership, which effective leaders routinely employ and through which we each can learn to positively influence our internal dialogues so that we, too, can build on our innate abilities and develop specific self-confidences to do what we choose. Objectives 1. To be able to define self-confidence, distinguish the two types and explain the roles that they play in our lives. 2. To be able to describe how self-confidence is developed and maintained in childhood and beyond. 3. To be able to explain the role that self-confidence plays in effective leadership. 4. To be able to describe how a self-confident leader can directly and indirectly affect his or her subordinates, helping them maximize their performances. 5. To be able to practice self-leadership.