Confidence is a core attribute among great leaders. Confidence to make challenging decisions. Confidence to anchor to your values when “easier” and “faster” paths seem tempting. Confidence to pivot when customer needs and wants shift.

While people universally value and seek greater confidence in work and life, actually becoming more confident can be tricky. Based on my experience as an executive coach, confidence can be gained through an array of efforts such as the achievement of small wins, focusing on the process and not just the outcomes, adopting a lifelong learner mindset, and joining a peer group. The first step to becoming more confident however, is to focus on your mindset.

One of the foundational principles in The Savage Leader is to “Cultivate Fear and Make it Your Friend.” We all face fear in our lives and in our careers. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of embarrassing ourselves in front of our peers or on social media. We all face fear, and the key is to listen to what it is telling you, turn into it, and then start to overcome it so that we can move forward.

Below is an excerpt from The Savage Leader that highlights how a Navy SEAL overcomes fear by finding something familiar.