Every conference has moments of truth.

They’re flustered. Distracted. And not making eye contact. You can tell they just want the meeting to be over.

And unfortunately, their lack of confidence tells a story louder than their words.

You can tell when someone's truly confident, can’t you?

Their eyes are up. Their attention is out. There's a sense of calm. When we have genuine confidence, we are less conscious of our own performance and more conscious of what's happening around us. Attention out. Not attention in.

And people can tell. It’s a presence that inspires trust, sees opportunities and influences the room.

We dug into this last week at the Evolving Analyst conference for Business Analysts. Professionals who are tasked daily with surfacing insights, challenging assumptions, and influencing stakeholders. No easy task. The confidence they bring into the room matters.

But this confidence doesn't just turn up. It's built. It rests on the evidence of work done.

Because confidence is in the doing. Not the wishing. Not the waiting.

But…

Right now, you’d be forgiven for finding that confidence feels harder. The system feels more fragile. People are wondering when the other shoe will drop. Connecting with others feels harder because everyone is just so preoccupied. And so, the path ahead feels unsure. We’re more tentative than we used to be. Almost the definition of a confidence-sapping environment.

Which is why it's even more important to bring intentionality to the work of building confidence. Deliberately leaning into those feelings of risk when we try something new. Persisting with the practice when the reps feel clunky. Remembering that confidence lives on the other side of doing the thing, and doing it often.

So, what will you deliberately do this week to build confidence?

What risk will you take?

What will you deliberately practice?

We’ve all got confidence issues. Which means we’ve all got confidence work.

________________

Every conference has moments of truth. If you'd like a speaker who helps your people show up well in theirs, I'd love to chat.

And a big thanks to Bharat Sharma and the volunteers who made it happen, and to my fellow speakers. Ankit Biswas, Shruti M., Katrina Morris, Yvonne Walus, PhD, Mohammed Aamir Mitha, Danielle Harold, Dan Lindsay, Matt Duce, Gauri Sreedhar, Melissa Firth, Adam Witherick, Penny Maffey. I hope you all managed to catch some well-earned R&R over the weekend!