The Confidence Ripple Effect

Reflecting on our March Comm Convo, we’ve been thinking a lot about where confidence originates and how to encourage that ripple effect.

Something that really stuck with me was when Sheila Gujrathi talked about how her confidence grew once she started advocating for her team. 

She said that even when she wasn’t always confident advocating for herself, she could do it in spades for her team. That hit home.

We spend so much of our time and energy making other people look good. Whether it’s executives, scientists, or whole project teams, we’re constantly setting them up for success. 

Tori Fort put it perfectly during last week’s session: When it’s working right, we’re not just partners, we’re making everyone around us better. That’s a form of leadership, too.

And I think there’s something really powerful in that. 

Sometimes it’s easier to be confident when we’re pushing for our teams, but we can translate that same mindset to our own work. 

The same energy we use to advocate for others can actually build our own confidence, too.

So maybe confidence isn’t just about standing tall as an individual, but about recognizing how lifting others up strengthens us, too. 

It’s all connected. 

When we see ourselves as partners in the success of the whole organization, it just clicks. 

We belong in those rooms. We deserve to take up space.

What do you think? How do you build your confidence as a leader?