When it comes to confidence, we've been told the formula wrong.
Get confident, then lead. Feel ready, then raise your hand. Know enough, then speak up.
We think confidence is the ignition. I am here to say it's actually the exhaust. Confidence comes after the engine starts running.
Picture a third-year fellow asked to present at grand rounds, not as a trainee, but as the expert. She knows the topic cold. She's done the research, seen the patients, lived the data.
The night before, she rewrites her slides four times. She walks to the podium despite her trepidation. Hands shaking. Voice steady. Afterward, a senior faculty member says, "You should be doing this more." She smiles. Inside, she thinks, "They just don't know me well enough yet."
Sound familiar? It does for me. I lived that experience over and over, in my training and then as an executive.
What we called self-doubt? That is courage walking. And it has been carrying us the entire time.
You don't have to FEEL ready to lead. You just have to step forward anyway. Action is the antidote to self-doubt.
That's not recklessness. That's how confidence is actually built, one courageous act at a time.
Stop waiting to feel ready. You did not get this far by staying safe.
#WomenInMedicine #Leadership #HumanCentredLeadership #CourageBeforeConfidence
