Confidence

How can you build your confidence as a CEO, investor, or entrepreneur?

My colleagues and I at ghSMART see many talented people work hard to build their confidence.

New CEOs have imposter syndrome. Private equity investors who just raised another $1b+ fund read newspaper headlines about the coming recession and quietly gulp. Self-made billionaire entrepreneurs worry that their fortunes will take an embarrassing hit. Newly-elected government leaders worry about whether their results will live up to their campaign promises.

We find that leaders are less confident when they obsess about things they can’t control, rather than take action in the areas they can control.

 Like what?

The Wall Street Journal reported the results of a new survey (January 16, 2019) by the Conference Board of what is on the mind of eight hundred CEOs.

EXTERNAL HOT-BUTTON ISSUES

1. Recession.
2. Global trade.
3. Politics.

INTERNAL HOT-BUTTON ISSUES

1. Attracting and retaining top talent.
2. Disruptive technologies.
3. Developing the next generation of leaders.

What this survey says to me is this. It’s good to be aware of issues that are outside of your control—recession, global trade, politics. But it’s even more brilliant to master the things that are within your control—hiring and retaining top talent, developing digital capabilities, developing the next generation of leaders.

How much confidence do you have in your team?

If you have a high degree of confidence in your team, then keep doing what you are doing to hire and develop them.

But if you don’t have a high degree of confidence in your team, then you should focus on hiring, developing, and retaining more of the right people who fit your strategy, who can achieve the results you seek.

How?

There are three ways to build confidence in your team. You can invest the time to master the skills and best practices around hiring, developing, and retaining top talent yourself. Or you can engage ghSMART to do it for you. Or, what most of our clients do is to engage ghSMART to solve this problem immediately, and to build your skills in this area for your long-term success. (A quick side note—I’m very proud to report that my colleagues achieved 99% “high” client-reported satisfaction over the past 12 months. So, to go with this confidence theme, I have a very high degree of confidence that my team will help you solve your #1 problem!)

A great way to build confidence in yourself as a leader is to build your confidence in your team.

If you are the CEO of a $1b+ revenue company or have raised at least a $1b fund, please reach out if you would like my team to help you build confidence in your team to deliver the results you want to achieve for customers, employees, and shareholders.

_______________________________________

Dr. Geoff Smart is Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, the leadership advisory firm. The firm has published three bestselling books on the subjects contained in this blog: Who (is about hiring top talent), Power Score (is about leading talented teams) and The CEO Next Door (is about developing leaders to become successful CEOs). Geoff can be reached at geoff.smart@ghsmart.com.