If a leader wants to earn subordinate trust they must become a confident leader. A confident leader is one who believes in the rightness of his character, has a high level of job knowledge in his field of choice, and has the ability to get the job completed successfully. As Christopher Kolenda tells us in the book, Leadership: The Warrior’s Art, leadership demands confident leaders who have prudent judgment, clear understanding, vision, and foresight. They must be independent and firm when making decisions, determined and energetic in carrying out the mission at hand (p.195). A leader who doubts his moral underpinning, who has limited job knowledge and the inexperience from a lack of successful accomplishments, will not be confident or exhibit confidence to his team. Lack of confidence by a leader cannot be masked. The lowering of the head, the darting of the eyes, the reluctance in the step, and the posturing of the body, if nothing else, will tell volumes about one’s lack of confidence. No one can hide a lack of confidence and no one can hide a high level of confidence either. If the leader tries to fake his confidence, or anything else for that matter, he will lose any and all confidence and respect he may have with others. His subordinates will read him like a book and see him as he is. The point being is to not try to fool anyone, but develop your leadership skills through education, experience, and by modeling successful leaders who have a track record of success. In fact, learn as much as you can now from the experiences of others. Confidence is a natural consequence of knowledge, experience, and success. It is all about being a confident as well as an authentic leader. Developing your leadership skills now will save you a lot of bumps and bruises in the future. The school of hard knocks is a tough way to become successful. If it were not true, this school’s colors would not be black and blue.
If a leader was able to hide a lack of confidence through his body language he would not be able to hide it by his performance in the arena. His decision making, his judgment, and his ability to complete and accomplish his mission effectively will report on him every time. A leader has to make decision under stress and usually with incomplete information. A confident leader has to move and act and be prepared to change and adapt as the mission unfolds. No leader has the luxury or time to wait for all the information before acting and deciding. A confident leader starts the ball rolling while adjusting as necessary to new information and intelligence. As an interesting side note, retired General Colin Powell believes that when you have enough information that gives you a 40% to 70% chance of success and your gut feeling is telling you to go; then go, move, act, do, lead!
A confident leader manages and controls the field, be it the battlefield, the sports arena, or other areas of professional settings, with expertise. He is not afraid to be proactive and chooses not to be reactive. He strives to know what is happening, what is not happening, and what he can do to influence change in a favorably manner. He takes the initiative to control and shape the events and to influence outcomes that favor mission success.
This is a tough order and leadership is not a discipline you can play role. Leadership is not for the weak minded or the faint at heart, the sissy or the coward. It is not an endeavor one should enter into lightly or without adequate preparation. You cannot fool people or play the make believe leader game when the heat is on and the game is on the line. People get hurt that way! As the old cowboy adage says, when you are riding through hell you have to keep riding, there is no time to get off. You just have to cowboy-up or rather leader-up! While riding through hell you cannot fake leadership nor learn it on quick and or the cheap. Poor leadership and excellent leadership both will stick out like a sore thumb. Prepare as much as possible now before you have to take the ride through hell.
The more a leader is tried in the fire of adversity and difficulty the more confident he will become and the more he will be seen as a confident leader. But too much fire too quickly is a recipe for disaster, so get as much experience as you can before you are thrown into the lion’s den. A little success here and a little bit there will tend to bring greater success later. Nothing builds confidence in one’s ability more than a good solid win. Success breeds success. Your team will have greater confidence in you when you demonstrate the ability to succeed. The more difficult the win the more confidence you will gain in yourself and the more you will get from your team members. There is nothing quite like bringing the trophy home!
We cannot always win the game, this we all know. Even when we do not win we can build self confidence and gain the confidence of our team if we played the game well. If we made the right decisions at the right time and for the right reasons, and took responsibility for the outcome, then we will earn the confidence of others and have more respect and confidence in ourselves. If your team loses you want them to say, or at least think, “Well, we lost a tough one but no one could have done any better leading us out there than you.”
So get out there and lead now as best you can while preparing earnestly for more difficult rides that surely will come your way! Learn your business through and through, know yourself, know your team, know your enemy. As you do these things you will earn greater trust of others because you will become a more confident and successful leader.
Esse Quam Videri
Carpe Diem
Arête
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