Great leaders are confident in their ability to succeed. This seems pretty obvious. The question is how did they become confident? What do/did they do differently than most other people?

In a past post I wrote about what confidence is and what confidence is not. It’s not cockiness, arrogance or self-lauding. It’s also not passivity. In short, confidence is a feeling of trust in your ability, qualities and judgement to succeed in the activities you pursue. You cannot have too much self-confidence.

Two attributes that help to create confidence are optimism and enthusiasm.

Optimistic leaders look to a bright future no matter what is happening at present. They see opportunity in new ideas and new places. They inspire, they rally, they see the big picture. They find the positive in everything they do. They choose to be optimistic.

While optimism largely comes from the inside out, enthusiasm is social and interactive. Enthusiastic people build others and encourage their success. Enthusiasm exists because you share it with others. In a recent post Michael Hyatt talks about how infectious enthusiasm as a key ingredient in effective teamwork. Like optimism, enthusiasm is a choice.

You become a confident leader one day at a time. Cultivating optimism and enthusiasm accelerates the journey.

Who do you know that’s confident, optimistic and enthusiastic? You can leave a comment below.

—
The Product Management Perspective: Confidence is key to being an effective product manager. To advance your products through executive filters you need confidence. To get through the difficult parts of product development you need internal optimism. And enthusiasm is essential to inspiring partners and customers to love your products. Focus on these attributes for the success of your product.