Page 96 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Feel Broadly Adequate • 77

Surprise everyone—including yourself—by doing something
more daring or nervy this afternoon over what you did this morning.
Then this evening, boldly top that. Tomorrow morning, venture beyond
that. Tomorrow noon, dare beyond that. Tomorrow evening, fearlessly
go farther.
It can be steps as simple as talking to your boss in a clear, firm, unwa-
vering manner versus vacillatingly wishy-washy. It might mean engaging
in conversation with a stranger. It could be making a decision with only
6 solid facts instead of the 26 that you’re more comfortable with.
You get the point: To gain confidence, do confidence-building things.
You’ll surprise everyone, including yourself, as to what you can do. And
really, what do you have to lose?
Frankly, I hope you do have something to lose. I hope that you get
into a sink-or-swim situation. Because if you survive it, you will learn the
lesson in my friend’s teenage daughter’s new tattoo, “If it doesn’t kill you,
it makes you strong.”

The stock market crash of 1987 was a crisis for my company. I was
in my early thirties and called on to do three and four press briefings
a day. I had to perform or not. Your confidence grows when you’re
called on to rise to the occasion in a crisis.

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Life is the biggest challenge to confidence.
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Confidence is a decision, not a state of being.

Your will is as strong as or stronger than your skill. Or, as the late
comedian George Carlin put it, “People with low self-esteem deserve it.”
Having an “ego the size of Grand Central Station” could be used
to describe the European leader who arrived late for his audience with
the Pope and then reportedly sent a text message during the meeting. He
(you and I) needs to keep his (our) ego(s) in check to be a leader.
A superiority complex, ego out of control, egomania, arrogance, and
swagger of success all ding your drive toward leadership. This is behavior
that is widely understood as overcompensating for personal insecurities.