Leadership / Direction / Confidence
Leadership Moment — 27 Jun 23
Confidence ≠ Right. Evaluating a leader.
My son challenged me today. He’s 15 and like that. He’d stumbled across a Saturday Night Live skit and shared it with me. It’s about a very confident schoolgirl named Shallon who gives guest star Edward Norton fits. Hilarious! Watch it here.
We were laughing and I joked I should use it in my leadership training. He said if I led with that, he’d be interested. Let’s see.
In the video, Shallon doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind and assert what she thinks is right. I think most of us have encountered that at work. In this context, it makes for an extraordinarily funny set piece. In the real world, it can lead to disaster.
People find self-confidence attractive, in both a romantic and a leadership way. I’m not ugly but I’ve never been particularly handsome either, yet my wife, who was stunningly beautiful in college, found something attractive in me. She called it swagger one time but what she really meant was self-confidence. There’s a line between self-confidence and arrogance and I was able to stay on the right side of it. Most of the time.
A popular piece of advice to young leaders is to fake it ’til you make it. I’ve heard that many times…
