The Confidence Code by Katty Kay & Claire Shipman, 2014

I enjoy reading business and self-help books as a reminder of best practices.  Rarely do these types of books introduce a revolutionary new concept, but they do provide an updated point of view and reminder of best practices.

The Confidence Code instantly appealed to me since one of my professional weaknesses is lack of confidence.

Although discouraging, but not surprising, studies show that confidence matters more than competence when it comes to the corporate world.

Being perfect is not the way to get ahead in business, but being confident is.

Not that competency is irrelevant as there needs to be a high level of competency to make it to the upper echelons, but without a high level of confidence, the upper echelons will not be in grasp. 

While reading The Confidence Code, I flagged numerous quotes in an attempt to remind myself of how I need to shore up my confidence.  These quotes are posted in a separate blog post.

Books like The Confidence Code and Lean In are good to read since I see myself in the women described in the books and the first step to improving upon something, is recognizing the behavior. 

Reading the findings of studies of how women doubt themselves, tend not to speak up as much as men do, and underestimate their own knowledge, ability and performance, reminds me of when I was in my MBA classes and a few professors told me what a great job I had done on the mid-terms and wondering why I did not speak up more.

Because of my lack of participation, they were surprised at how well I had done.  By not speaking up, I was perceived as not intelligent or just not getting the material being covered.

One particular Marketing professor encouraged me and would look at me when starting class discussions, but I never had enough confidence to say anything, even though I had been praised and the professor had gone out of his way to give me a confidence boost.

Naturally, I thought the work that I did and the thoughts I had during my classes were nothing special or above average.

Even today, a decade later, I still have trouble recognizing and believing in my own abilities: that I understand things quickly, can extrapolate and look at something from different angles and come up with different solutions.

And, I'm still realizing, not everyone can do this...  That I am special and above average.  I have had numerous managers praise my performance and abilities, and yet, I still have trouble believing it and really internalizing it.

Clearly outlining their research and findings on confidence, Kay and Shipman find that although confidence is genetic, it is a trait that can be changed through behavior and they provide useful tips on boosting confidence.

Chapter titles that summarize their advice include:
It's Not Enough to Be Good
Do More, Think Less
Failing Fast and Other Confidence-Boosting Habits

The secret to cracking the Confidence Code can be summed up with the following:

• If you only remember one thing from this book, let it be this: When in doubt, act.
• Confidence is the stuff that turns thoughts into actions.
• Think Less. Take Action.  Be authentic.