Author Kelli Thompson, speaker and founder of the Clarity & Confidence Women’s Leadership Program, asked 500 women: “What would you do if you had more confidence?” Their answers help illustrate this encouraging guide for women looking to increase their career confidence.
Thompson left corporate America to be an entrepreneur and coach in 2019, realizing that although she had followed all the rules, it didn’t make her happy. She wasn’t adhering to her own values, and the book aims, in large part, to help women identify their values and build careers that honor them.
This book skillfully frames out the concepts and practices from her leadership program. Thompson references a study showing that even when women outperform men, they’re less confident about their work: meaning, for example, that they are less likely to ask for raises, high profile projects, and other career opportunities. She shines in convincing readers that giving in to imposter syndrome or low confidence has a major opportunity cost — to the reader’s paycheck, experience, and happiness.
She puts stress on what’s being lost, and her argument hits hard: If you don’t feel you’re worth a new job, a good relationship, a promotion, and so on, you’re not just missing out on a single goal, but on what your life in its entirety could be. “I don’t feel qualified to be here,” she points out, is a very expensive thought.
Between her engaging stories of her own career and case studies of friends and clients, questions for self-reflection, and “tool kits” from her coaching program, Thompson has put together a compelling argument for learning to hold your head up high: to “own who you are, trust yourself, amplify your voice, and show up as the authentic, powerful woman leader you are meant to be.”
