When it comes to your career progression, which do you think is more important?

Sounds like a crazy question right? I know that if you had asked me this question 10 years ago, I would have said, “Hands down, competence matters more!”

And I would have been wrong.

If you’re surprised by that, you’re not alone. Especially as women, we often put a ton of focus on building our competence, and for good reason!

We come into our careers as young women, and we are almost always underestimated. I don’t know about you, but as a 25-year-old woman working in Biotech, I worried a lot about not being taken seriously. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I thought, if I can’t control how I look, I’m certainly going to control what I know. And I’m going to know my sh!t 10x better than anyone else. Boom.

This served me well in those early days, and my guess is that it served you too. I believe that this belief follows us into the rest of our careers. I talk to a lot of women who are climbing the corporate ladder, and most of them have gone to get additional certifications and MBAs in order to get there. Meanwhile, many of our male counterparts aren’t worried in the least, trusting that they’re already good enough.

So what gives? Are these guys just overconfident?

Maybe yes, maybe no. And honestly, it doesn’t really matter.

I saw a study that showed confidence is as important as competence when it comes to career progression and friends, it blew my mind.

So… just thinking you’re good is somehow as important as actually being good?!?

But it makes a lot of sense! Think about it: when someone leads with confidence, we want to follow. When someone shares an idea confidently, we see it as more credible.

Compare these two examples:

Eg 1: Said in a confident tone, person is sitting up straight or standing:

“Based on my experience, I recommend we change the team structure to align better with customer growth. Here’s how…”

vs

Eg 2: Said in a quiet voice, person is sitting with shoulders slumped, looking down at their page:

“I’m not sure if this is a dumb idea… but I was thinking we should try changing the team structure to align better with customer growth. If you want, I can share more …?”

See what a difference? Who would you be more convinced by? And trust me, I want to believe that the best ideas will always win out, regardless of how they’re presented, but in my experience, this just isn’t true!

I’ve worked with a couple of men who taught me this lesson in a way that felt like it hit me right in the face.

Both were similar situations, where they were speaking to a group of our colleagues and shared a piece of information that I immediately knew was false (I knew my stuff 10x better than anyone else, remember?).

In each of these situations, I looked around the room and saw people nodding and agreeing, and thought, ‘Am I going crazy here?? How is no one else seeing this?’

Each time, it struck me just how confidently they were sharing this completely false information. And how much that confidence impacted how it was received.

In one of the cases, the guy even used a word that doesn’t exist. I’m not even joking.

Now, I’m not saying this to hate on anyone. But wow, did it ever teach me a lesson about how important communicating with confidence can be!

But let’s get back to your career….

In addition to how confidence can impact how you’re perceived, it can also impact the actions you take to get your career to the next level.

Consider applying for a job you’re not sure you qualify for…

Men do this all. the. time. And guess what? They often get those jobs! But women are known to wait until we meet most or all of the criteria listed. Ladies, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and feeling confident in your abilities will make it more likely that you take that shot.

I remember hiring for some new manager roles at a company I worked at, and we were looking to promote internally. There were a couple of the women on the team who I specifically reached out to, hoping they would apply. None of them did. In fact, only one woman on the entire team applied.

You know who did apply? Almost all of the men, including one guy, who was working in a different function, and two who were still on their 3-month probation!

What else? Consider the following actions that you’re more likely to take when feeling confident:

  • Sharing a new (and maybe crazy) idea with the broader team
  • Asking someone you admire to mentor you or provide advice
  • Challenging an idea that you don’t agree with
  • Asking your boss for a promotion

The bottom line is this: confidence matters. And according to research, it matters just as much as competence does when it comes to our career progression.

The good news is, most people aren’t born confident and it’s something you can build over time! I don’t have time to get into all of the ways you can do this in a newsletter, but it’s just one of the many key topics we tackle in my group program that will get you VP-ready and thriving in your role.

Today is the LAST DAY you can register at the lowest price this program will ever be – a $1,000 discount!

​Learn more here ​and reply back with any questions. Would love to see you on the inside!

Until next time friends… ✌️💜

Katy

PS. Today is the last day to join my group program at the lowest price it will ever be! Not only will you learn everything you need to know to land that VP role and own your seat at the table, you’ll get a full year of support to ensure you transition smoothly, along with 1:1 coaching and a community of amazing women. It doesn’t get much better than that! ​Details and sign up here​.