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Tom called me a few weeks ago. “I have good news and I have bad news,” he said. “The good news is I got the job.” “Wow!” I said. “Fantastic! What’s the bad news?” He sort of laughed and said, “The bad news is that I got the job. And I have to do a Town Hall in 10 days.”

Yikes! Tom had been recruited to be the President of a $2B technology company. His mandate was to improve operations to grow it to $6B in 5 years. He had spent the past 15 years consulting to businesses on their operations and logistics, but he had never run a company himself. He was replacing the guy Tom called “the much-loved Saul” who had grown up in the company and served as President for 8 years.

Even worse, Tom had been a well-regarded consultant in a fancy consulting firm that you’ve heard of – the one known for very confident consultants. Plenty of people would have a chip on their shoulders about him because of his pedigree. So, just between us, he was pretty nervous. And, he knew he had to nail the Town Hall to get off on the right foot.

Everyone struggles with confidence at some point. And that makes sense: if you aren’t a little nervous – sometimes terrified – you aren’t stretching yourself; and if you aren’t stretching yourself you are not learning and growing.

Building confidence for the long-term is important. But sometimes you need to exude confidence right now, even when you don’t feel it.  How can you do that?  <<Read More>>