Confident Doubts About Doubtful Confidence

The dangers of overconfidence and of doubting ourselves

the doubter sits in front of a crowd that demands assertive answers, futuristic surreal elegant — by DALL·E

I have written before about confidence. It is a uniquely human trait. It is hard to train, too: while we aren’t born one way or the other, we are raised either confident or diffident. It is nigh on impossible to escape the conditioning — positive or negative — of our upbringing.

However, not all confidence is beneficial. Doubting is inherent to genius. Those who don’t doubt and simply march ahead can only be right for so long. It is rare to win the lottery; winning it more than once without cheating is almost unheard of. Doubting allows the doubter to consider many options and pick the optimal one. Those who don’t doubt will inevitably err.

Admittedly, if we don’t snap out of the doubt and be decisive, we will never get anywhere. Doubt is our best companion when planning and strategising. Yet, it is often best left out of any implementation. Nobody likes to follow a doubter. In front of those we lead, we must appear not only confident but determined, not only confident in ourselves but optimistic about the outcome.

Indeed, confidence is alluring, and indispensable for any leader. Regardless of whether we lead or not, confidence is necessary to execute the actions we have planned. Once we choose a course…