For those of you who work with me, know me personally, have heard me speak, or read my monthly newsletter (sign up here if you don't), you know that I've been exploring the topic of confidence--how to create it, nurture it, use it, and love it, in easy, simple ways that make sense for your life and work.
All of this focus has made me highly attuned to confident people, and so the recent Sarah Palin interviews have really sparked my attention.
If you search "Palin+confidence" on Google, you get a string of 2008 stories where the word confidence is typically prefaced with "no." But I made a point to watch Ms. Palin on Oprah yesterday, and with Barbara Walters today, and was reminded that within this moose-hunting mother is an extremely confident woman.
Politics aside, her presence, attitude, and words made me wonder if part of people's reaction to her last year was tied to this unexpected level of confidence? It's quite different than what we typically see (and to some degrees, still expect) of a woman in the workplace (even if the workplace happens to be politics.)
For example, when Oprah asked what Ms. Palin's reaction was when she got the call to be VP, it sounded like Oprah expected her to answer something like, " I was shocked, surprised, and thought 'why me?'" That would have been the traditional, female leader response we've come to expect. But Ms. Palin responded that she said yes instantly, knowing that she had executive administrative experience and fully believing that whatever job there was, she could tackle it.
Obviously, the American people made a different choice, but Ms. Palin's immediate "yes" is so different than the approach many of us take. How many opportunities do we hesitate to take because we wonder if we're not good enough or smart enough? A friend of mine recently told me she gave away a business opportunity because the potential client mentioned one qualification she didn't have. When talking to the colleague she referred the business to, she learned that qualification was never vetted and didn't matter to the actual work. She's now kicking herself for not believing in herself more--and for the impact this decision had on her income.
So love her or hate her, we students of confidence should give Ms. Palin some props. We need more examples of this kind of confidence in the workplace, especially among women. I can agree with John McCain on one thing--she's definitely a maverick.
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