31 Jul Defining Confidence At Work
“Every woman is confident, we just don’t show it in every situation.” Learn about the confidence issues experienced by women in the world of business. B and Fi discuss two different sides to confidence, comparing those who are confident on the inside to those who are confident on the outside. Discover how developing your presence and learning a professional power posture can help you look, and feel, more confident. Please follow The Smartest Path YouTube channel to keep up to date with our The Smartest Conversations series.
Transcript
Birgitta : You know, one of the things that I realized lately is that I’ve been speaking
to a lot of women, and especially young women, and one of the discussions that comes up and one of the topics that came up mostly was confidence.And basically what they all expressed is that they were actually quite confident. And then when you explore it a little bit further, it turns out not to be entirely true.
Fiona : Yeah, I’ve had the opposite interestingly.
B : Oh, funny.
Fi : Yeah, look, I know where you’re coming from, there’s those women who look incredibly confident on the outside and yet have all those self doubts, that imposter syndrome, and I’ve had that myself so I can really relate to that one.And then there’s women who
actually, they feel really confident on the inside but they come across as unconfident.
B : So what do you think that that is? Because that’s a completely different phenomona. I mean, I can imagine that it has to do a little bit with the way they present themselves, is that correct?
Fi : It is, it’s lack of connection. When they lack connection to their own bodies and they’re unaware of the message that their bodies are giving to others, then that comes through with a disconnected message and that’s when they seem unconfident.
B : Okay, so what can they do about that?
Fi : Those women, the first step is to learn to reconnect with their bodies. And I’ve found most people, actually, these days have lost that connection.
B : Yeah. Yeah, so what is it? Is it like a breathing exercise or is it … Is it the way they stand? Or is it a combination of–
Fi : I think it’s a combination. I actually teach women what I call the professional power
posture, so in that case we look at what we call stacking, so how they connect right the way from the head all the way down into the ground. So we actually ground them. And when you’re more grounded, you can breathe better. Once you’re breathing better, you calm down your mind. Once you calm down your mind, you can think more clearly. Also, I teach them how to use a professional presence. If they’re in a meeting, for example, so they can sit with more confidence. I’ve found that people are taken more seriously, they’re listened to more, if they present themselves in the right way.
B : So they’re perceived in a different way. So do we have a tip for the people that are watching?
Fi : I think maybe a challenge for you is to think about what is your posture saying about you? And are you creating a professional presence? And then have a look at the people around you and see what presence they’re creating.
B : Okay, sounds like a plan!