CONFIDENCE

Confidence does not directly produce results. We should avoid overconfidence or false confidence.  Mark Twain said “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”  For the work we do, “Fake it ‘til you make it” is unacceptable – it is unacceptable where faking it can harm people. Don’t confuse CONFIDENCE with COMPETENCE.

But we should have CONFIDENCE. You should have CONFIDENCE.  Confidence gives us the security to move forward, to take bold actions, to make the change that we want to make.

Why should we/you have a lot of confidence?  We can have confidence because we have accomplished so much – we truly have tremendous achievements so we know we have the “right stuff” to do it again.  We can have confidence because we have each other – both through personal connections (the encouraging word, the individual feedback and support) and the processes and systems (the “checks and balances” in how we do what we do) – to help us “do the right thing” and “do the thing right”.

I work on improving my CONFIDENCE every day, building on what is done and looking for the security and support for what will be done next. If “not ready” for a big leap, then I work on improving my CONFIDENCE for reaching the stepping stones. With each successful leap (and with each leap that teaches safer and better ways to keep leaping) I get more confident.

I am confident we will continue our journey from GREAT to EXCEPTIONAL.