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Monday, July 13, 2009

Leaders ACT Confident

Now, why would I write that? Why would I write "Leaders ACT Confident" instead of "Leaders ARE Confident"?

Well, leaders should be confident. That's very true. However, the reality is that leaders don't always know what's going on and leaders don't always feel good about how things are going.

As I've also mentioned in an earlier post, leaders are always on display. The troops often take on the characteristics of their leader: fear, confidence, unease, strength.

So, part of our jobs as leaders are to keep our people feeling good that, even if the world around isn't that great (as with our current economy), the boss is in control and is confident of his or her abilities to handle the situation.

I used to tell my leaders 2 things:

1. Be There (I wrote more about this in a previous post)
2. Act like you know what you're doing.

Today, I would add a #3...Act confident, even if you don't feel it. Your people are counting on you.