This Uncertainty Is Leading to Leadership Doubt. (#239)

The Confident Leader

BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

I read the latest newsletter from my friend, Abby McCloskey. She is a political strategist. During her recent trip to Washington, D.C., her contacts across various government sectors are experiencing uncertainty. As a leader, you might be experiencing similar emotions. So, how can leaders effectively lead when faced with uncertainty?

“Success is 80% psychology and 20% strategy.” 

– Tony Robbins (Motivational speaker)

This Week’s Edition

There are lots of variables we can’t control to produce the outcomes we want. But there’s one thing we can control—our thoughts. 

Clarify Your Thinking

“The market doesn’t like uncertainty” is a common truism, and the volatility in the stock market this past week proved this point. What actions will the administration take this week? How will that impact trade, pricing, taxes, and more?

Although macroeconomic issues can sometimes affect your business, they pale in comparison to the uncertainty that you as a leader face every day:

• Will our new strategies produce the growth we need?
• Will we make that sale?
• Will our existing customers buy from us as forecasted?
• Is our team satisfied? Will they stick with us?

Uncertainty breeds doubt. Doubt can lead leaders to drift from those things in which they had conviction:

• Strategy drift – “Our current strategy is not achieving results quickly enough. We should replace it with a new idea.”
• Vision drift – “I believe our goals are too ambitious. We may need to adjust them downwards so we can achieve them.”
• Mission drift – “What we previously did isn’t producing results like it used to. We should focus on something shinier.” 

Old Thinking: I’m truly struggling to make decisions in these uncertain times. Everything feels like it’s shifting beneath me. I’m tempted to downgrade my vision, change our strategy, and question our purpose. Argh…this doesn’t feel very confident. 

New Thinking: I will stay focused on the things I can control. I refuse to be distracted by the volatility and uncertainty around me. Each day, I will remind myself and the team of our vision and maintain consistency in the activities that I know will yield results. 

Thoughts Lead to Actions

Doubt is natural, while confidence is often unnatural. Consider it this way: our brains are wired to identify and assess risk. In business and leadership, you can choose how you think about risk.

The mere presence of risk can lead to thoughts of hesitation, skepticism, or disbelief. This often results in avoidance fueled by doubt. Alternatively, you can assess the risk and thereby increase your confidence.

Confidence can be trained. Let’s elaborate with a pop quiz:

Can you be confident in an outcome?

The answer is no, primarily because there are factors beyond your control that influence the outcome. Therefore, when you place your confidence in an outcome that does not materialize, you have reason to become more doubtful.

The solution is to place your confidence in the things that you can control. Trust in yourself! Bet on yourself; that is the best bet you will ever make. Concentrate on these three areas to boost your confidence:

1. You: your skills, talents, abilities, and gifts.

• You are on the team because of your strengths. Employ those in all that you do each day and watch the results materialize.

2. Your past achievements weren’t a fluke or mere good luck. You purposed them to happen with intention. Remind yourself. 

• Your Process: those things you do that produce results.

3. You are successful. What have you done in the past that has created that success? What is your formula for success? Keep doing those things. 

• Past successes: remind yourself of what you have accomplished.

Leaders who bet on themselves instead of relying on outcomes filled with variables beyond their control gradually build their confidence. By focusing on what they can control— their thoughts and actions— they consistently progress toward achieving the results they desire, even amid uncertainty. 

Boost Your Performance

Watch this week’s video to hear more about how leaders bulletproof their confidence. 

What’s Your Opinion?

How do you train your confidence beyond the uncertainty of the day? Share it with me at robin.pou@robinpou.com.

If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!

Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist

We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders. 

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What is “The Confident Leader”?

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.