Confidence Makes Big Difference

‘It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.” Mohammed Ali’s ability to put his supreme confidence in perspective offers a lesson for all of us.

Q. In your last column you talked about the type of self focus needed to be a good leader. It’s nice to be self-confident, but I’ve always believed that a big ego is a dangerous thing. Don’t you think you overdid it?

A. No. I’ve long adhered to Samuel Johnson’s observation: “Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” Indeed, experience has taught me that to function entrepreneurially - in your own business or somebody else’s - one needs a great degree of self-confidence.

In his book, “The Alexander Complex,” Michael Meyer states that the people who can make a real difference in a business enterprise “live in the grip of a vision. Work and career take on the quality of a mission, a pursuit of some Holy Grail. And because they are talented and convinced they can change the world, they often do.”

Interestingly, one-in-three classic entrepreneurs rank their success potential at the start of a new venture as a 10 out of 10! They believe, like the consummate, eccentric entrepreneur Howard Hughes, that “if it can be conceived, it can be built.” In the words of Thomas Duck Sr., founder of the Ugly Duckling Rent-a-Car System - and veteran of more than two dozen different occupations - “I always felt I could fly … if I just moved my arms properly!!”

Truly successful business owners and managers love to be confronted with the conclusion that “it can’t be done.” This is all the stimulation they need to set out to prove the contrary.

In psychological terms, these people enjoy an inner drive; an internal “locus of control.” This inner drive to accomplish and attain … to succeed … prompts them to march to their own “inner drum,” no matter what it requires or how long it will take.

They enjoy a sense of destiny derived from an inner conviction. This assurance results from a sensitivity to self, rather than to external factors like other people and exogenous events. They are confident and optimistic about the future. Their self-concept is that of “rugged individualist.”

Important is their feeling that their personal destiny and that of their firm are conditioned primarily by factors that are - or can be - under their control, influenced by a power that emanates from within them.

These achievers believe that they control their life and that “externals” exert little influence. The “locus of control” is within them. These folks really believe that they can walk on hot rocks without getting blisters.

To be a real “doer” you can’t just try to make things happen. According to the book “High Impact Skills for Your Success,” underachievers use the word “try” an average of eight times a day, compared with high achievers who say try only once a day. This is contrary to the passive anxiety control that is often evident in some cultures.

Passive individuals generally try to accommodate existing realities to reduce their anxieties. They try to become part of a larger group, to bend with the wind, to rationalize events to see a bright side, to put themselves in the hands of “the fates.” Some observers claim that this trait among many Japanese managers is a major reason why that nation’s innovation rate falls far behind that of the United States.

To productively exercise active anxiety control, you have to welcome the apprehension that inevitably comes with change. You’ll trust yourself; you won’t automatically “join the crowd.” You’ll suspend judgment and look at things as an inquisitive scientist would, reaching out to proactively discover and act.

To realize the most from this kind of behavior you have to cultivate a very keen awareness of your surroundings and the things that are happening externally. It’s important to feel independent and at liberty to act according to your designs. Spontaneity is vital, as is a confidence that allows you to respond to your feelings and senses. You can’t be embarrassed by your enthusiasm and you definitely can’t allow yourself to bridle your responses with conventionality.