Seven ways to boost your workplace confidence

It's a skill that Virgin boss Richard Branson manages with ease -- or unease if his media interviews are anything to go by. One of the world's most charismatic business leaders appears anything but confident during serious interviews, yet poll after poll of business leaders consistently ranks him the most admired CEO.Branson may not project confidence in the conventional sense of the word but his ability to engage and influence people, and to empathise with them in times of crisis, is one that many business leaders looking to boost their own confidence levels, aspire to.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, it could be that the brash, no nonsense style of Sir Alan Sugar is more appropriate for rallying the troops and appearing supremely confident during a recession, but not everyone is convinced.

Top business coach Alan Leigh, director of Maynard Leigh Associates, says: "He actually lacks confidence, which is underlined by the rude and aggressive behaviour he falls back on to disguise that fact."

Other high profile business bosses have their own trademark methods of demonstrating confidence and winning trust in their leadership skills, from a quietly assertive Terry Leahy, the unapologetic Michael O'Leary, and an ebullient Phillip Green.

Honed by years of experience their behaviours and public personas are as much part of their brand as their company logo. While other business leaders and senior executives can never truly emulate them, there is chemistry to confident communication and it can be learned.


Here I offer tips on how any business exec can boost their assurance and poise.

Pay attention

Self confidence can be crippled by overt self consciousness, so take yourself out of the limelight. Give other people your full attention, in the process detracting attention from yourself, and confidence levels will start to rise.

Former US president Bill Clinton is a master of attentiveness, renowned for his ability to make people feel as if he has flown across the Atlantic just to see them, and a clear demonstration of the power of turning your attention to other people as a way of boosting your confidence.

Show interdependence

Projecting confidence is not a solo pursuit; it is a team game with a two-way movement of information and communication. Being sure of yourself and what you want to say will make you feel confident that your listeners will glean what they need from it.

Build rapport

Establishing an emotional bond or a rapport with another person is another eminently learnable skill. At the heart of rapport is respect for the other person, conveyed by listening more than talking and showing genuine interest in them. With a good rapport, confidence levels will climb.

Be yourself

People see through forced behaviours, so trying to emulate someone else's confident style could backfire. The real you is the kind of person you are at home, which may not translate well to the workplace.

Formal presentation and media training courses can help, as professional trainers will spot and immediately discourage any attempts at forced or false behaviour, and eventually your own personal style will look and feel natural and comfortable.

Know your stuff

Don't try to be all things to all people. Identify what it is that people actually need from you and focus on communicating that.

Dr Rob Yeung, a business psychologist with leadership consultancy Talentspace, says it is impossible to overemphasise the importance of knowing your message.

"It is simply about preparation and rehearsal and being clear in your mind what you are going to say, you will project confidence naturally," he says.

Choose your platform

Some people were made for public speaking, others are terrible at it. But if you are a senior executive with responsibility for communicating with fellow corporate peers, staff and customers, it is unavoidable.

With formal training you can acquire the skills you need to address people confidently but if the prospect of the big stage alarms you, choose a smaller platform. Spend time in different areas of the workplace speaking to people in small groups, where you can look and feel less daunted and more confident.

Believe in yourself

Mae West famously said "If you don't think you are wonderful, why should anyone else?" That applies to business leaders, to a degree. If you want people to feel confident in you, you have to believe that they have reason to.

In researching her book Fast Track to the Top leading psychologist and business coach Ros Taylor interviewed 80 of the top CEOs on the secrets of their success, including Channel Five chief executive Dawn Airey, whose response 'I'm just bloody good' was neither arrogant nor artificial.

"She just believed in herself. At the same time, a confident business leader should be able to demonstrate humility when it is needed. Contrary to what you might think, it is not a sign of weakness but rather reinforces a sense of authenticity; being yourself," says Taylor.

It seems that confidence is not something you have but something that other people see in you. And as Richard Branson already knows, the real key to projecting confidence as a leader is not making yourself more confident but making everyone else believe that you are.

How to build a healthy lifestyle It is not what you think, it is how you think

Diet - lets face it with out this you probably will not be as successful loosing weight as you would like. You can exercise all you want but if you go to fast food drive thrus all the time or eat the morning donuts you probably wont have much success. Lets talk about the fat first. You can do the low carb diets that actually say you should eat fatty foods and cut out the carbs and this does help you loose weight fast. The problem with these types of diets are that once you go off the diet and start eating normal again the weight starts coming back two fold, been there done that. Then there are the only carb diets which actually are pretty good for your heart. You find that your body starts missing the protein that it used to get from meat and you start getting tired. The next diet you can try is being a vegetarian which is a very good diet and you will loose weight but you must replace your protein and make sure you get enough vitamins and don’t short your self any nutrients. You know the best way to diet really is to watch your calories and fat intake. If you eat smaller portions at more times through out the day would be the best for you allowing your body to burn each and every meal you eat rather then storing it for later or turning it to fat. It is hard to keep track of all this but once you start doing it you will find it gets easier and easier. Lets face it losing weight and keeping it off is a life changing job that you have to work at and you will see great results if you add our next subject we will talk about.


Exercise - This is the hardest to keep faithful to. It is the hardest to start and the hardest to do when you just don’t want to do it. When you first start exercising you will be sore in the days following but you need to work through it and pretty soon it will not hurt anymore. First start a walking program 1 to 2 miles a day or 20 to 30 minutes a day. Do what you can handle maybe it is more than that. Then get yourself some 1 to 5 pound dumbbells and start doing regular exercise routines which we won’t go in to detail now but you can look up any routine on the internet and pick one that you think will work for you. You can loose weight with out exercising but that doesn’t mean that you are living healthy. Exercising helps your muscles be loose and tone. Sweating helps get rid of the toxins in your body that could cause cancers. Exercising also helps your heart, the most important muscle in your body, exercising helps keep your blood vessels open and clear. As you get older, if you do not exercise in some way your body starts to deteriorate faster. You can’t stop the aging but you will feel better and will be able to do the things you like. To keep up with both dieting and exercising you have to take control of the one thing that will make you quit both if you don’t master this next topic.

Your will - If you can control this you will be successful. Your will is what tells you that you don’t feel like doing this today or this candy bar won’t hurt me today. Then before you know it your week is filled with not exercising and as many candy bars and fast food as you can eat. To take control of your will you have to find ways to keep you focused like posting positive notes around your house or work. There is many different ways to keep your will focused. Once you train your mind to get rid of all the negativity that stops you from exercising and dieting the easier you find it is to change to a healthier lifestyle. Try posting pictures of you when you started your program that you choose. Then start posting pictures of yourself after you have been on your program for a month or two. The whole idea here is to keep everything positive and get rid of all the negative. When you start seeing all the results it will be easy to do all three steps to a healthy lifestyle.