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Closing the confidence gap with Kelli Thompson

Closing the confidence gap with Kelli Thompson

Released Monday, 8th April 2024
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Closing the confidence gap with Kelli Thompson

Closing the confidence gap with Kelli Thompson

Closing the confidence gap with Kelli Thompson

Closing the confidence gap with Kelli Thompson

Monday, 8th April 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:01

Linked In News. From

0:07

the news team at Linked In, I'm Jessie

0:09

Humble and this is hello Monday. I

0:16

want to start today by telling

0:18

you about one morning in Kelly

0:21

Thompson life. Now

0:24

to really understand the weight of

0:26

this morning, you have to know

0:28

something about Kelly. She was born

0:30

a rule follower in over achiever.

0:32

Something. I can really relate to

0:34

actually. when she was a teenager,

0:37

she made this checklist for herself.

0:39

It had a list of all

0:41

the things that she would need

0:43

to do in order to be

0:45

successful. Finish college. Check. Good job

0:47

Check. Marry young and have kids

0:49

early? check And check. Fancy car

0:52

check Big house check. Is

0:54

it really surprising that by the time

0:56

that Kelly got to the end of

0:59

this list that she checked every single

1:01

box, her life didn't feel like what

1:03

she wanted it to. On

1:06

this morning that I'm talking about,

1:08

Kelly was somewhere in her thirties,

1:10

she just ended this very long

1:12

relationship one that she thought would

1:14

be thou one and she was

1:16

exhausted. She was living paycheck to

1:18

paycheck and raising a daughter on

1:20

her own and that dream job

1:22

that she'd started a year earlier.

1:24

Well, if is no longer dreamy

1:26

and she was questioning whether she

1:28

was even in the right career

1:31

field at all. After

1:33

this really crappy night's sleep,

1:35

she poured herself some coffee.

1:38

She slumped down into a chair

1:40

at the table and she really

1:42

intended to journal to just try

1:44

to figure it out. But as

1:46

she opened her book to just

1:48

began to cry Like big ugly

1:51

sob cries. My old.

1:53

Life I completely gone away, I knew that

1:55

my career was going to have to take

1:57

a big turn, I knew the types of

1:59

relationships that I. Oh then we're not

2:01

right and not that was old, but

2:03

the future wasn't here yet. So.

2:06

This moment when everything all

2:09

doesn't work anymore and what's

2:11

ahead hasn't revealed itself yet?

2:13

Well, it's magic. It's a

2:15

vulnerable moment. Maybe. Useless

2:17

diversion of it. I have for

2:19

sure. Today show is

2:21

about what came after this for Kelly.

2:24

And everything that it can teach us. Have.

2:27

To this. The

2:30

link park s that was sponsored by

2:32

T I A P I a mix

2:34

the or time it. A

2:37

promise of a guaranteed retirement pay

2:39

check for life? Learn more at

2:41

T I A bad word. Backslash

2:44

promises pay off. It's

2:49

been a decade since Kelly had

2:51

a moment of clarity. Today she

2:53

went a Women's Leadership in Career

2:55

Coaching Company. Recently, she folded everything

2:57

she's learned into a book called

2:59

Closing The Confidence Cat. Have.

3:02

Kelly's been listening to The Shell for years.

3:05

That's how I that's an hour. She

3:07

often simpson a conversations with other Hello

3:09

Monday listeners in or soup on linked

3:12

in. She always has just released seeds

3:14

had face. Today

3:16

Kelly will decide the confidence

3:18

gap for us to say

3:20

strategies for getting more comfortable

3:22

with uncertainty and getting over

3:24

procrastination. She'll shared part of

3:26

herself. Here's Kelly.

3:32

So. The confidence gap is actually a research there

3:35

had been done by Wharton and so what

3:37

they did was they kind of dissent Summarize

3:39

it: three bucks kind of the standard test

3:41

men and women tickets. They did not tell

3:43

them how they did on the test but

3:45

based on how they sought they did on

3:47

the past there is a mock experience with

3:49

they were supposed to go an advocate for

3:51

themselves and how well they did it on

3:53

the past and for roles at this kind

3:55

of pretended company and it's probably not gonna

3:57

come to a shock to you Would I

3:59

say- Who do you think did a better

4:01

job advocating for themselves and how they thought they did

4:03

on the test? Men did a

4:05

better job doing that. But if I were to

4:07

ask you, well, who actually did better on the test? It's

4:10

actually women did slightly better on the test.

4:12

And I know this research

4:14

project has been replicated in medical schools as

4:16

well. And so the researchers at

4:18

Wharton said, okay, well, maybe if we tell

4:21

women that they did better on

4:23

the test, then their confidence will follow suit

4:25

because they're saying, okay, there's this confidence gap.

4:28

That's actually not gonna cut it. Because I think

4:30

to close the confidence gap, it's not just about

4:32

telling women, oh, be more confident, or hey, you

4:34

did better. It's actually about

4:36

seeing more women in the rooms

4:38

where decisions are made. It's about really

4:41

addressing some of these systemic issues

4:43

so that women can see themselves using

4:45

healthy self-advocacy. We can see people like

4:47

us who are leading in different

4:49

ways, using feminine leadership qualities and not

4:52

just following along with this

4:54

just one way that we think should be

4:56

a leader, which has typically been a more

4:58

masculine view. Yes, there are systemic things that

5:00

need to be addressed, like wage

5:02

gaps and workload, et

5:05

cetera. And we aren't

5:07

gonna change the systems overnight. It would be

5:09

awesome if we could, but we can't. So

5:11

what are some strategies that we can use

5:13

to thrive inside of those systems and to

5:15

show up as our most clear and confident

5:18

selves? I really love that. I

5:20

had a wonderful thinker who I love on

5:22

the show a while ago now, Debbie Millman,

5:25

and I asked her about confidence. And her

5:27

response kind of surprised me, but has sort

5:29

of stuck with me. She

5:32

said, confidence is only ever experienced after

5:34

the effect. It's what you have when

5:36

you look back at something that worked.

5:39

Then you can point and say confidence. In

5:41

the moment, we are all fumbling forward. That

5:44

is what we are doing. Yeah,

5:47

she's right. I have a saying. I say confidence

5:49

is a side effect of taking action. And

5:53

so when you talk about fumbling forward, I

5:55

think a lot about some of the strategies that

5:57

I use with my clients. And one that the...

6:00

He strategy is this so many of them say.

6:02

Actually, I don't know if I can ask for

6:04

this raise. I don't know if I should apply

6:06

for this job. I don't know if I said

6:08

hold this crucial conversations my leader because I just

6:10

don't feel confident. And the

6:13

number one strategy they use it on my

6:15

clients is to say you know what's great.

6:17

Leaders are always confident of time. They've

6:19

actually learn to transform their relationship

6:21

with that. And that's what we're

6:23

going to focus on, As we're going to focus on. Getting really,

6:26

really comfortable with dealt. And

6:28

nerves and imposter feelings and all

6:31

those weird a gross things that

6:33

we have right before we're about

6:35

to do those big things. it's

6:38

just normalizing doubt, normalizing discomfort, and

6:40

saying, how can we take our

6:42

smallest, bravest next steps in alignment

6:44

with our values while also. Feeling

6:47

doubtful. I I tell a

6:49

story in the book about the strategy. I talked

6:51

about my daughter and how when she was four

6:53

years old she kind of developed this condition called

6:55

the but first you know about this would dude

6:58

I'm every time you ask him to do something

7:00

like all. but first I need a good drink.

7:02

Oh but first I need to put on sock

7:04

sock something ridiculous. It's their way of stalling because

7:06

they don't want to do things us uncomfortable And

7:09

I say you know what we never really out

7:11

world about firsts. He just get

7:13

more sophisticated. Now we have this job that

7:15

we would apply for Me See all but

7:17

first. Yes, I need to go back and

7:20

get more education. I need to go read

7:22

one more book or whatever that might be

7:24

And I really encourage folks to change their

7:27

but first to while. Also. And

7:29

that's what I just described. I

7:31

can apply for this job while

7:34

also feeling nervous. I can have

7:36

this really crucial conversation. well also

7:38

feeling doubtful. i can

7:40

stand up and sarah my ideas in this

7:42

meeting well also feeling a little bit like

7:44

an imposter is learning to do these things

7:47

that we want to do that are aligned

7:49

with our goals in our values are recognizing

7:51

we're going to have to do it while

7:53

also feeling these really uncomfortable feelings because we're

7:55

human and there are people who don't feel

7:57

doubt and nerves an imposter syndrome And I

7:59

always joke that they're on Dateline, and I

8:01

watch them every Friday night with my husband

8:03

in a margarita. So these feelings

8:05

are normal, and they're healthy, and they're all

8:07

part of growing and stretching. And in fact, that's

8:09

a good sign that you are stretching your comfort

8:12

zone and moving towards your goals, is you should

8:14

actually feel a level of doubt, and

8:16

that's absolutely healthy. Well, you know,

8:18

in thinking about that, and yes, Jude has that habit too.

8:20

And by the way, I do too. I read about your

8:22

daughter, and I was like, you know, it's

8:25

funny because I'm actually reading this book so that

8:27

I don't have to write an essay that is

8:30

a very hard thing for me to do. I'm a

8:32

writer, but it's very hard to write something that

8:34

I'm proud of. But first, I'm going to read

8:36

your book, Kelly, because we're talking later today. And

8:38

then I'll start the essay. But

8:41

one thing that's sort of sprung to my mind

8:43

that has been helpful to me is

8:46

thinking about the fact that in any given meeting

8:48

when I open my mouth and then words come

8:50

out and then I'm talking, most

8:53

people are so concerned with themselves and

8:56

how they appear that they're not going

8:58

to remember my fumble, whatever it is,

9:00

that I am going to be the

9:02

deepest chronicler and the biggest skeptic of

9:05

any of my own behavior in public.

9:08

Yeah, I think sometimes we

9:10

are very self-centered. And

9:13

I mean that in just a very normal human way. You're

9:16

right. Like when I think about standing up

9:18

right before I got to give a training. Or

9:20

let's just be honest, right before I switch on

9:22

for this podcast, I'm nervous and I'm

9:24

thinking about all the things I'm saying and it's just exiting

9:26

my mouth and I'm overanalyzing it. And I'm like, Oh my

9:28

gosh, did I just really say that? Did I just really

9:31

pause that way and stumble? And

9:33

I think we're the ones who are always thinking of it. And

9:36

I heard some liberating advice once. I believe it

9:38

was in Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Big Magic. And she

9:40

basically says something. She's like, you know, once we

9:43

age, we get to this age where we start

9:45

to realize that nobody was ever thinking of us

9:47

anyhow. And

9:50

that has been such liberating advice. And

9:53

one of the things that I really started to do

9:55

as someone who does a lot of training is

9:57

I started to realize to your point how much I was

9:59

over. overanalyzing me, my feelings, what am I

10:02

feeling? I'm over here nervous, I'm pacing,

10:04

I'm feeling imposter feelings, all the things.

10:06

I was like, oh, you know what?

10:08

I'm not even thinking about my audience of 200

10:10

people who's sitting here. I'm only thinking about myself.

10:13

And so one of the strategies that's been really helpful

10:15

for me that I really talk about in

10:17

the book and encourage my clients to do is

10:20

just to ask yourself, wait a minute, what about the people in front

10:22

of you? Name three

10:24

words that you want this person

10:26

to feel. So let's say you

10:28

are going into a job interview and you're all up

10:31

in your cells about what you're saying. Okay,

10:33

what are three words that describe

10:35

how I want the

10:37

other person to feel who's interviewing me? It's

10:40

really hard to think about myself. And

10:42

it's really hard to think about all of my

10:44

internal drama because I'm sitting there

10:46

focused and compassionate towards the person in

10:48

front of me. Does it relieve all

10:51

the energy of nerves? No, but it

10:53

definitely helps refocus my energy into creating

10:55

the conversation that I want to have.

10:57

There was a gentleness to what it

10:59

felt to me that you were trying

11:01

to communicate in that way, that you

11:04

weren't actually asking me to let go

11:06

of all of the layers upon layers

11:08

of socialization that have taught

11:10

me to be nervous in

11:12

myriad ways, but you are simply

11:15

inviting me to allow all of that

11:17

to be true and still to take action. We're

11:23

gonna take a quick break here, more with

11:25

Kelly Thompson when we return. The

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with a sixteen secret though. when your

13:00

favorite listening and. Welcome

13:07

back! You know? over the

13:09

past five years and hello Monday, I've

13:11

spoken to so many people. And

13:14

so often their advice has similar

13:16

new things that runs through it.

13:19

So. Many people share this idea that one

13:21

way we hold ourselves back is that we

13:23

don't punch have the confidence to imagine a

13:25

big enough future for ourselves in the first

13:27

place. So I asked

13:29

Kelly about this. And

13:32

so cause you talked about that, you

13:34

know? I think sometimes and I can

13:36

just speak for me personally. I.

13:39

Think a lot of the way that we are brought

13:41

up. In I talked

13:43

about my book. I have a very

13:45

small town Catholics, midwestern upbringing. and

13:48

there's just some quote unquote rules that some without

13:50

or maybe some self imposed limitations like oh people

13:52

from my community we don't go to the big

13:54

city we don't go do that like i could

13:57

have only know maybe I can name one person

13:59

who like went to New York City for their

14:01

career. I mean we just didn't do that. And

14:03

so I think some of that is like these

14:06

self-imposed limits. And

14:08

it's really hard for us to think bigger about

14:10

that. And you know, I even you

14:12

know work with my own coach. And that's

14:15

something that's really been coming up in our

14:17

own conversations, is really

14:19

thinking about gosh, what is possible?

14:21

You know, what's possible next from you know, the

14:23

impact that I want to make my career, you

14:25

know, the growth, etc. And I think when I

14:27

work with my own clients who are rising up

14:29

in organizations, that is very, very

14:31

scary for them. Because maybe they never

14:33

saw themselves as a chief whatever officer.

14:36

And so to even think that big or

14:38

even to think about being the CEO can

14:40

be really scary. And one of

14:42

the things that I really think is

14:44

sometimes I don't think we're so much scared

14:46

of failure, as much

14:49

we are as scared as exposure. Because

14:51

as we grow and accelerate in our

14:53

career, our decisions impact more people. Our

14:56

voice gets heard by more people. And

14:58

that opens criticism, it opens judgment. And

15:01

then of course, then all the nerves, the doubt,

15:03

the imposter feelings come. And so sometimes

15:05

I think that can be really hard. I'm just speaking for

15:08

me personally, when I really think about, gosh, what do I

15:10

want to do? Who do I want to become? Absolutely

15:13

confidence plays into that. Yeah, because it's easy to shrink back

15:15

and be like, Oh, I don't know if I want to

15:17

do that. Because what will people think? Or what if I

15:19

did this? And then what if I get criticized? And

15:22

I do, I see it with my clients that

15:24

I work with in organizations as they accelerate in

15:26

the organization, who am I to be this big?

15:28

Yeah, what if I get to that level? And

15:30

you know, I can't make the right decisions, or

15:32

I can't handle the exposure of the scrutiny of

15:34

the board and my peers, etc, etc. And

15:36

so as it kind of comes back to what we

15:38

were talking about, yes, that is true. And, you

15:41

know, that's just growth that we have to really

15:43

get comfortable with all of those doubts and imposter

15:45

feelings that come with it. And I think that

15:47

that's where it's really important to have the right

15:50

levels of support. Yeah. So

15:52

as you think about the clients you work with,

15:54

I would love your perspective on how

15:57

we develop in our careers. Do

15:59

you think looking back on it, for

16:01

example, that you could have been

16:03

a different kind of professional with more

16:05

information in your 20s? Or do

16:07

you think that that was just the chapter of your career and

16:10

the things that you were supposed to be learning then? Oh

16:13

my gosh, this is my existential crisis, Jesse. And

16:15

I don't know. I think

16:17

about this all of the time

16:20

is I think about being

16:22

in my 20s, having a career, having a child

16:25

at 24, and thinking, gosh,

16:28

was I just in survival mode? Did

16:30

I just do the best that I could because I needed to go

16:32

to work and have benefits, get a job and come home and take care

16:34

of my daughter? You know, I think

16:36

in our 20s, looking back at

16:39

my own experience, I can only speak from my

16:41

own experience, my 20s was a lot of do

16:43

I like this? Yeah. Is this what I want

16:45

to be doing? Do I like working for this

16:47

type of manager or that type of manager? What

16:49

sort of things do I enjoy? And I think

16:51

one of the things that I did well in

16:54

my 20s was saying yes to a lot of

16:56

new types of projects or experiences to try to

16:58

figure that out. One of the

17:00

things that I did not do well in my

17:02

20s was to really trust myself. Trust myself

17:04

to speak up. You know, in fact,

17:06

I define confidence is the ability to trust yourself.

17:08

Yeah. And to take action on that. Yeah. And

17:11

I don't think I did a great job of

17:13

trusting myself. I outsourced too

17:15

much. I pulled other people on

17:17

what they think I should do. Maybe a

17:19

senior leader came in and said, Hey, Kelly,

17:21

you should try this or do this. And I was like,

17:23

okay, that's great. You know, because they must know what they're

17:26

talking about. They're in the corner office and they look happy

17:28

and successful. I wish in my

17:30

20s, I just would have trusted my gut a

17:32

little bit more and held a little more confidence

17:34

to speak up and say yes to some things

17:36

and notice some things. I

17:38

don't think it was until my 30s where I

17:40

really started to kind of have this aha moment

17:42

that, oh, maybe I had a little more

17:44

agency over what I wanted to do. And

17:47

maybe my identity wasn't tied to this

17:49

organization that I've been at for 12

17:51

years that had practically raised me. And

17:53

I really started to feel my confidence

17:55

emerge more in my 30s when a

17:58

few things started to happen. I

18:00

really started to get clear about what my values

18:03

were. Yeah. What do I value in an organization?

18:05

And not just their values that they have on their website,

18:07

but how do they actually make decisions and where do they

18:09

spend their money and do I align with that? In

18:12

my 30s, I also got really clear on what are my

18:14

unique talents and gifts? Like what have

18:16

I been put on this earth to do? And does

18:18

this employer allow me to do that? And

18:21

if not, you know, maybe somewhere else. I

18:23

really started to notice my energy, like what's my energy level when I

18:26

go to work? You know, do I feel good?

18:28

Does it surge my energy? Am I feeling happy, tired at

18:30

the end of the day because I've done some really cool

18:32

stuff or do I feel really burned out? And

18:35

then I started to really think about is

18:37

my current goal and my employer moving me

18:39

closer to my ultimate career goals

18:41

and the impact I want to make? I

18:43

think I just started to get wiser about asking

18:45

those questions in my 30s and then realizing, oh,

18:47

I have agency that if these things aren't aligned,

18:50

I can go find something that is. Well,

18:52

to ask those alignment questions, you

18:55

need some degree of clarity of your

18:57

own. And I really liked the way

18:59

that you embraced this idea of personal

19:02

values and understanding what they are before

19:04

you even begin the career journey, as

19:06

it were. Like what is important to

19:08

you? And you invite

19:10

the reader to do the same. Yeah.

19:14

Because I think when I get my

19:16

own experience in personal relationships, my

19:19

personal relationships haven't always been so great. I've been

19:21

divorced. I've called up a wedding. Now I'm happily

19:23

remarried. And even in

19:25

my professional career, one

19:28

of the things that was like the bedrock

19:30

of both of them is that when our

19:32

values were not aligned, everything was chaos. Because

19:35

we were just trying to live or work

19:38

two very different ways. Yeah. You

19:40

know, Kelly, you described this crisis moment that

19:42

you had in the book. And it was

19:44

the moment where I began to trust you

19:47

as an author and as

19:49

a person delivering this information.

19:52

And it was this moment when post divorce,

19:54

you would call it an offer relationship. And

19:57

I really connected with this moment even though

20:00

this is not my life experience at all. I've never

20:02

lived in the Midwest. I was not

20:04

married at the time that you had

20:07

in your life been married and divorced, but

20:09

I have sat at my dining

20:11

room table exhausted after a night

20:13

of worrying, unable

20:16

to pull myself together enough that I felt like

20:19

I could go to work. I have been in

20:21

that kind of crisis. And

20:23

it made me think about the importance

20:26

of crisis in helping

20:29

us to refine, realign, and

20:31

get on the right path.

20:34

And I was just wondering if you

20:36

might reflect a little bit on what

20:38

you, how that crisis actually, like what

20:40

happened for you then? Was that the

20:42

turning point? Did you have the tools

20:44

in your toolbox right then to know

20:46

what to do? Or did you need

20:48

to go someplace for them? Yeah,

20:51

no, I was a hot mess. So just a

20:53

set context. At that point

20:55

of crisis, obviously,

20:57

I was divorced. The

20:59

job that I thought I was going to love, I was, we

21:02

got bought out, my position was going to

21:04

be eliminated. And I had just called off

21:06

a wedding from a five year relationship. Nothing

21:09

was working. And it, it

21:11

literally felt like rock bottom for me, because

21:14

I just didn't know what way was up. I don't know what

21:16

I'm going to do in my career. This person

21:18

that I thought I was going to be with,

21:21

you know, is not, this is not going to

21:23

happen. And so in that moment, it was just

21:25

almost like, gosh, can I even trust myself to

21:27

make the right decision? Like, what if I keep

21:29

going and I keep choosing wrongly? Yeah, I don't

21:31

know if wrongly is a word, but that's how

21:34

I felt. And so to

21:36

your point, did I have all the tools? No, I

21:39

felt like crap. It was just like this

21:41

really, I now I know, I

21:43

now know what's called liminal space. My

21:45

old life had completely gone away. I

21:48

knew that my career was going to need to

21:50

take a big turn because of the acquisition of

21:52

my company. I knew the types of relationships that

21:55

I had chosen were not right. And that that

21:57

was old, but the future

21:59

wasn't here. That are. You know what else

22:01

I looked like So within this really murky

22:03

limited space of i don't know who I

22:05

am as I don't know what I won

22:07

and an oil supposed do is love You

22:09

know that I could tell you in that

22:11

moment. I knew what I didn't want.

22:14

And that's where I started. I

22:16

made a list of everything I didn't ones

22:18

both personally and professionally and when I am

22:20

working with folks who are in crisis lot

22:22

of times they can't tell you what they

22:25

want. I could tell you what I wanted

22:27

If somebody was said well what do you

22:29

want telling him week? I don't know not

22:31

and I knew what I didn't One and

22:33

son started there and I think the other

22:35

place I had to start that was really

22:37

painful Jesse was that He would have been

22:39

easy for me to blame my past relationships

22:41

for not working out or even you know

22:43

the job but I was like you know

22:45

there's a common denominator. And all of this, and that's

22:47

me. And so

22:49

I need to get clear on the choices

22:51

that I made and the thoughts that I

22:53

thought the police that I has that led

22:55

me to this place. So.

22:57

I made a list of what I didn't want

22:59

and I made it really honest and painful accounting

23:02

of the choices. That I mean that brought me

23:04

here because if I knew about the choices and

23:06

the assumptions and a me that brought me here

23:08

I could. Choose differently going forward. And

23:10

that's all I knew without points. As

23:12

I would tell you than that, I

23:14

then found some books about career changes

23:16

and pivoting and those were really help

23:18

for that kind of your built some

23:20

tools and my toolbox. But in that

23:22

tender, gross, messy moment I knew nothing.

23:24

I felt terrible, but I need to

23:26

things but I didn't once. And.

23:28

Just to ride out how I got here. Guess it makes them.

23:30

Different. Choices. It's wonderful on.

23:33

There is also in underlying belief that

23:35

I want to call out as he

23:37

tell that story and that is that.

23:40

To. Some degree you must have. Believed.

23:43

That. You are capable of change of

23:45

growth. And

23:47

curious the degree to which are

23:50

growth mindset is and necessary did

23:52

driver to confidence. yeah

23:54

that's really interesting to reflect on and i think

23:56

i would need to take some time to

23:58

reflect on what was it? And maybe that's a

24:01

great coaching question for all of us in

24:03

these messy moments, because I'm sure I'm going to have

24:05

another one in my life, because that's just what being

24:08

human I know life is so messy. It's not linear,

24:10

Kelly, both you and I are staring into a future

24:12

that will have more of these. I

24:14

know. And so I think that that's just such

24:16

a good coaching question in the moment that we

24:18

can all ask ourselves is what

24:21

capability lies within me to do

24:24

something different. The first thing that

24:26

comes to mind for me when you ask me

24:28

that question is drawing back to

24:30

old pivots in my life. Like I'm immediately going

24:32

back, okay, this for me. Well, and it kind

24:34

of has happened. I remember during COVID, my,

24:37

I was an entrepreneur at this time, my

24:39

business totally crashed overnight because my coaching contracts had

24:41

canceled that were through organization speaking. And so I

24:43

lost like 80 to 90% of

24:45

my business overnight, which was terrible. But

24:47

that crisis caused me to get focused. Okay. What do

24:50

I, what do I not want? What's in alignment with

24:52

my values? If things can't get any worse, what's the

24:54

one thing I want to do? I'm like, okay, well,

24:56

I want to focus on women. And

24:59

so thinking back to that, I remember thinking, Oh, I've

25:01

been through crisis before. And

25:03

that was all I knew. I've been through crisis before.

25:05

And I survived every single one. And I think that's

25:07

the only thing I knew at that point. And maybe

25:09

that's something where folks could start is to say, you

25:11

know, where have you been in crisis before? And

25:14

what did you do? What did you learn? What skills, you

25:16

know, what skills did you use during that crisis that you

25:18

can transfer to this crisis? And if

25:21

that's all you can account for that day,

25:23

then like, high five. That

25:28

was Kelly Thompson. Her book is called

25:31

Closing the Confidence Gap. And

25:34

she offers some real gems in this

25:36

conversation. For one, Kelly defines

25:38

confidence as the ability to trust oneself

25:40

and take action. People

25:43

aren't confident all the time. It's not a thing.

25:46

But we can learn to normalize discomfort

25:48

and it will help us move with

25:50

confidence. Also, Kelly

25:52

asks us to challenge the butt first

25:54

mindset. And I love this. She

25:57

has a substitute while also Rather

26:00

than saying to yourself, I'm going to

26:02

apply for this job, but first I'm going to realize

26:04

just how nervous I am, she suggests

26:07

applying for the job while

26:09

also feeling nervous. We'll

26:13

be talking about confidence this week

26:15

at Office Hours. Come

26:18

grab a coffee, grab a drink, your lunch,

26:20

whatever you like, and share your thoughts with

26:22

us this Wednesday afternoon at 3pm Eastern. We'll

26:26

go live from the LinkedIn News page. If

26:29

you have trouble finding us, you can

26:31

email us at hellomondayatlinkedin.com. We'll

26:33

send you a link. Hello

26:38

Monday is a production of LinkedIn News.

26:40

Lolia Briggs produced this episode with help

26:42

from Sarah Storm. It's sound

26:45

designed and engineered by a soft-good drone. Our

26:48

theme music was composed just for us

26:50

by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. Our

26:53

contributor, Michaela Greer, radiates

26:55

confidence. Enrique Montavo is

26:57

our executive producer. Dave Pond is head

26:59

of news production. Courtney Koop

27:01

has head of original programming. Dan

27:03

Rock is the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn.

27:07

I'm Jessi Hempel. Be back next Monday.

27:09

Thanks for listening. You

27:14

had your daughter at 23 and I had my son

27:17

at 43 because the checklist, I had

27:19

the same checklist as you, but it

27:21

just never worked out for me. And

27:25

that there are benefits to doing it on

27:27

both sides of the curve. But right this

27:29

second, I'm a little jealous of you. I

27:31

have to tell you. Oh. Well,

27:34

because you had your freedom in your 20s. Yes,

27:36

I did.

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