Why confidence isn’t the absence of self-doubt
One of the most common assumptions emerging leaders make is that they’re only ones experiencing periods of self-doubt.
Through his work as an executive coach, author and podcaster, Trevor Merriden, our Founder, has interviewed and coached hundreds of leaders, entrepreneurs and HR professionals. While many appear confidence on the surface, their conversations often reveal a different picture. Leaders question whether they’re ready for the next step, compare themselves with others and wonder whether they truly belong in their roles.
Trevor knows this experience personally. Self-doubt held him back for many years, and even today it still turns up occasionally. But one of the biggest lessons from working with leaders across a variety of industries is that confidence isn’t about eliminating self-doubt, it’s about learning how to respond to it differently.
That belief is at the heart of Trevor’s upcoming book, The Confidence Shift: Taking Emerging Leaders from Self-Doubt to Self-Belief.
Rather than presenting confidence as a personality trait that some people naturally have, the book explores confidence as something that can be developed by anyone through a series of practical mindset shifts and behaviours.
At the centre of the book is a simple framework Trevor calls the 5Cs.
Curiosity – where self-doubt is recognised instead of resisted – and where self-trust begins to form. Curiosity allows emerging leaders to question assumptions, soften self-judgement and understand what’s really going on under the surface.
Creativity – making better use of our emotions to leverage creative thinking and action, as practical tools to move beyond self-doubt.
Clarity – this brings us direction, helps leaders focus attention, make sense of complexity and decide what matters most.
Commitment – turns the insights of the first three stages into follow-through and resilience, showing how confidence can be sustained through consistency, recovery and responsibility.
Confidence – the outcome of the previous four stages where leaders develop lasting self-belief and create confidence in those around them.
Over the coming weeks and months, Trevor will be exploring each of these five stages in more detail, sharing practical ideas and insights from the book to help emerging leaders move from self-doubt to self-belief.
Because the goal isn’t to stop experience self-doubt altogether. It’s to stop letting it define what’s possible.