Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
One of the characteristics that most of us find appealing is confidence. Confident people are seen as more charismatic, and are more likely to be chosen as leaders. Yet there is a paradox to confidence, and that paradox was even hidden in that prior sentence. We view confidence as a fundamental personality trait. But the … Continue reading The Confidence Paradox
Once upon a time, swagger was considered a negative. Think of the phrase, “swaggering bully.” Now, however, swagger has become a quality that many view as a major positive, and try to adopt for themselves. Swagger-philia has proliferated across numerous industries and fields. No longer just the province of entertainers and professional athletes, now even … Continue reading Ditch The Swagger
Confidence is widely seen as a positive virtue. We like people who are confident, especially here in America, especially here in Silicon Valley. (Some might even call us arrogant) Yet in my own experience, confidence doesn’t always win you points with me. Confidence is a dual-edged sword–it can cut both ways. The key is credibility. … Continue reading Confidence Is Only Valuable When Accompanied By Credibility
The great Eric Barker recently reviewed the research on fear, and found that there are three secrets to fearlessness, as practiced by courageous types like firefighters and special forces operatives: http://bit.ly/1awzzJt 1. Training and Preparation “The Navy SEAL team that killed Bin Laden trained for weeks inside a full scale replica of the compound they … Continue reading Why Worry?
One of the key things I encourage every entrepreneur to do is to develop a healthy sense of humility. Many entrepreneurs (especially those of the brash, young, cocky variety) drip with self-confidence. That’s a good thing. You need some irrational confidence to pursue a profession with a 99% failure rate in which you take on … Continue reading Reading a lesson doesn’t mean you’ve learned it