Resilience and Confidence are more alike than you’d think… And it’s not just the -ence part

So how does a leader get to this point?

Our learning facilitator Roeshawn Davidson puts it best: “For leaders to display this kind of confidence, they need to have the resolve and the stamina to manage stress, and to make and lead change in challenging and uncertain times,” she explains.

In effect, this is resilience, which is built up through the experience of navigating uncertainty and being agile through challenges and change. To harness this resilience, which is so key in exuding confident leadership that is impactful, individuals must practice it regularly by accepting their limitations, accepting their own vulnerability in the situation, and standing up and using their voice in spite of this.

Once you’ve done that, you’re well on the road to impactful leadership. Roeshawn continues: “Practicing that regularly will help somebody feel more confident in themselves, and in how they show up and lead.”

Another significant element that ties both confidence and resilience together is your mindset. Both often hinge on having a positive mindset, both within yourself, and within the teams you work within. Confidence is all about believing in yourself, and in the same vein, resilience requires an individual to remain optimistic and believe that you have the ability to overcome obstacles.

Confidence and resilience also both require persistence and perseverance, no matter what you may be facing. Confident individuals will likely continue even when they face significant challenges because they are confident in their ability to deal with them. Similarly, resilient leaders demonstrate persistence by continuing to strive for their goals no matter what the barriers are, and despite clear setbacks.

Both also involve the ability to not be afraid of failure. Leaders who are truly confident in themselves will be able to identify when a challenge or barrier is temporary, and that it actually poses an opportunity for them to grow. Resilient leaders will also see any failure as a learning experience, and they will respond by harnessing that learning to develop new ways of overcoming challenges in the future.

So, with all of this in mind, it seems clear that confidence and resilience really aren’t so different from each other. In fact, they both enable each other, which is pretty amazing when you step back and really think about it. Now that we have (hopefully!) convinced you, we invite you to go forth and practice being confident – if you do it enough times, and tell yourself it enough times, it’ll start to become real.