Pride versus Confidence

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Being proud and being confident sound pretty similar and can be mistaken for each other.

We see someone who is proud of their accomplishment and they show it by raising a fist, flashing a “We’re number one” or otherwise letting you know “they done good”, at least according to them. We see others who face a situation, take a deep breath and “just do it” look at their result and move on. 

Are these the same things? I don’t think so. It’s a short journey from proud to arrogant. All too often it seems today we see more of the later than the former. Also, we see a lot of our business leaders today who don’t seem to take pride in what they do as much as they put forth a defiant stance.

Confidence is also sometimes confused with arrogance. People act out of a sense of arrogance and entitlement. Confidence is not putting others down and “slamming” your opposition. It’s acting on your beliefs in a manner that demonstrates to others that you are following your beliefs with a fairness and openmindedness.

We seem to have put these two concepts on the back burner these days. Isn’t it about time we dusted them off and returned them to our business conversation.



Big Idea - Tips for Business Success

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

 I recently watched a television show - The Big Idea.  On the show they give many ideas on overcoming the naysayers (negatives toward the business) and staying focused on making your business idea payoff.  Here are five of the tips that I think we all can use:

         1.  Develop an expertise in the business field in which you want to start your business venture.

         2.  Always display confidence that your business idea will work.

         3.  Never “flip flop”.  That is, stay focused on your business goals. Don’t waver.

         4.  Believe in yourself that you can make it happen.  Ignore any negatives about your idea or yourself.

         5.  Be brutally honest with yourself, and don’t be embarassed to ask for help.

Stay tuned.  The last five will appear in another post.