The Confidence Effect: Every Woman's Guide to the Attitude That Attracts Success

by Grace Killelea

Every day, talented, hardworking women are passed over for promotions. While it’s easy to blame a corporate culture that favors men, seasoned executive Grace Killelea identifies another culprit: a surprising disparity in confidence. Men are prone to overestimate their abilities, while women too often sell themselves short.

The Confidence Effect helps women speak out, take risks, and assume leadership positions with assurance. The book moves beyond research and statistics to focus on what’s really important: how women can become more confident, one step at a time.

Practical strategies show how to turn job competency into the kind of authentic confidence that gets noticed. Women learn to practice the Four Rs of Success—relationships, reputation, results, and resilience—dipping in for tips and tools on how to:

• Build circles of influence
• Seize opportunities they normally avoid
• Leverage and promote their skills
• Cultivate executive presence
• Use data compellingly
• Bounce back from setbacks
• And more

With this powerful new book, women everywhere will find the confidence they need to step off the sidelines onto the playing field—and claim the success they deserve.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Business, Leadership, Personal Development, Feminism, Professional Development

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Rahini Takalkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book read as if its audience was senior level women in the corporate world, yet the information contained seemed like it would be pre-existing knowledge for most at that level. Regardless, Killelea repackaged this already-known information in memorable ways (4Rs, IPO) that I see myself recalling quickly in the circumstances that this book serves as a guide for.

Moreover, I also feel like this book is helpful for women who, like me, are starting out their careers as it planted several seeds in my mind that I could do more research on or speak with mentors about. I also would like to point out that the section about dressing and executive presence was useful and informative as were Killelea's consistent explanations of tendencies or habits women are more likely to have that differentiate us from male colleagues. In addition, the "Profile in Confidence" sections throughout the book were super helpful. In more specific terms, I appreciated how they represented an effort to fold in diverse perspectives from women in different companies and contained important advice/lessons, such as the one detailing the evolving relationship between expertise and seniority level.

I've read other career advice books and noticed that they have portrayed networking and building professional connections as an exploitative and self-serving endeavour. Killelea, on the other hand, provided a nuanced and more positive depiction of networking, noting that one should regard it as interactions that are as much about taking as they are about giving.

Ultimately, however, I do believe that this book could have been more effectual had it roped in more perspectives from women in a more diverse range of fields instead of predominantly those in managerial level corporate positions of communications and beauty companies. Also, I think that a greater degree of specificity and more actionable advice would have increased the extent to which readers can apply the lessons of this book to our careers.

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got to page 135 of 200, and I just couldn't finish the book. I'm not one to quit reading, but my boyfriend finally convinced me that it wasn't worth it if it was so frustrating. If you want to read a book about nothing you don't already know, this is the one for you. If you want to read a book that motivates you to be confident, this is NOT the book for you. This book is 100% anecdotal. There are no facts to back up anything that she claims despite the fact that she wrote an entire chapter devoted to the importance of backing up your claims with data. I could rant and rave about so much more. Please, do not invest in this book. Just read Lean In. Now, I need some tea and meditation so I can stop fuming.

[Gabby Harvilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was my first “self-help” type of genre book, and I really enjoyed it! a bit repetitive at times, I found the advice helpful for your career

[J.M. Goldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gained some interesting insights from this book. The author obviously knows her stuff and is no doubt a fantastic communicator. I learned some good tools to use in specific situations
My lower star rating is because I felt that there was a little too much emphasis on appearance in the workplace. I’m no longer working in the corporate world but maybe if you are the subjects would be more relevant?
Mostly I felt the gems here were right at the end of the book where the author opened up more about her personal struggles. If only she’d started with this and put more examples all the way through it would have been in my opinion a richer read.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, and above average for a business book. The scope is a bit wide, but if I could ignore the things that didn't apply to me, I think there were good nudges for reflection in areas that did apply to me. I think most folks would feel this way, and I actually don't think it's that specific to women. Career planning and learnings are pretty universal.

[Leonard Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grace Killelea's new book is a guide for developing confidence, not just for women, as the title suggests, but for an business professional looking to improve their own position within their corporate hierarchy. Grace's own words are supplemented by a number of successful professionals, leading a common set of themes around result, resilience, reputation and relationships. A must read.

[Agata Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful book that is extremely inspirational. Grace presents important concepts pertaining to confidence and competency in business with compelling stories and lessons learned from successful women. A must read for women (and men) who want to advance their business acumen.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book is aimed more towards women interested in leadership roles, I got a lot of value out of it as a young woman who's entry-level in her career. It reinforced a lot of the lessons I've learned about having resilience when dealing with setbacks and challenges but it also taught me some new ways of looking at resilience as a broader concept in my career and life.

It's a well-rounded book that covers everything from exuding a strong presence in the workplace to taking care of your emotional and physical health, so you can reach your fullest potential. It also breaks down many of the ways women are socially conditioned to behave and how we have to adjust some of these natural tendencies (i.e. people-pleasing) to establish boundaries and set ourselves up for success.

I particularly liked the section on results. It really reaffirmed to me the importance of understanding and using data. I'm not a numbers person but am now even more interested in learning about the metrics and measurements used in my field (digital marketing). I'm inspired to become a more results-driven person!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some helpful advice, but not the book I needed to read. Seemed more aimed at people who want to go into upper management, not people who want to lead as an individual contributor / team lead (not manager). Maybe I'm biased being in tech, but it felt like she gave too much importance to appearance. And it felt like way too much common sense that didn't need spelling out, but maybe that's just me not learning anything new here. Anyway, decent advice but a lot of it didn't feel relevant to me personally.

[Stephi Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has a lot sage advice and keen observations from her and other women’s leadership experiences in the workplace. What found missing is that she tries to incorporate everything but the kitchen sink into this book, which left many of the chapters standing only on the unstable footing of her own advice and testimony. Even much of the wisdom from her client’s examples, lacked presentation of even the most basic data and research that could validate her assertions. Overall, it was an easy read and felt like she was talking to you in a small group setting.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from a mentor for Christmas and I really enjoyed the read. I found the book to be insightful, enlightening, and valuable! Killelea breaks down specific tactics and strategies to drive your career and build both the type of confidence and competence that are required to be a successful female leader. She ends with one inspirational reminder: “You are the CEO of your career.”

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a quick, easy read for women looking for advice on confidence in the workplace. It was filled with plenty of tactical and practical examples of what to focus on and how to help others while helping yourself. The quotes and profiles from prominent women leaders help solidify the authors ideas.

[Jenine Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mentor suggested this book, and I thought it had some valid points and advice.
I'm happy that the author admitted that plus sized people are seen as sloppy unless they're impeccably dressed. (I often feel this way myself. A coworker and I could wear the same exact outfit and it'd look casual on them and sloppy on me.)
I ordered a copy so I could take some notes and loan it to friends.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book but ultimately found myself disappointed and without many (any?) tangible new takeaways. I disliked the author's reliance on anecdotal experiences rather than empirical research and how narrow the range of women she included stories from or seemed to consider at all in this book. 2.5 stars

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this book for bookclub and I think the reader's voice took away from the content. I think some of the advice and points in the book are a bit outdated. We had the author come in and speak at work about this book and she mentioned how if she were to re-write this or have another book there would be things that she would change. But overall, the book is inspiring.

[Deborah McComas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book club book for a group of women coworkers in a professional environment. Presents a wide range of topics to consider for professional growth . My book club has women from late 20’s to 50’s and everyone still found practical skills to apply.

[Helen Tocco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and found it uplifting, and I especially liked that she quotes other female professionals throughout. However I would have appreciated more statistics and facts to back up some of her concepts and ideas.

[Chelsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the message about confidence being the key to success. I didn’t like that the book was geared primarily towards women when really, everyone can struggle with confidence (although statistically women are less confident). There were some excellent points and it was engaging, though.

[Fed · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. I read it with the expextatoins of learning something new. As I have experienced while reading the Confidence Code (lots of wows and aha moments). But, nah, this one was too boaring for me. Valid points, but not that interesting.. I don't know why!

[Uzma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty comprehensive take on defining confidence and steps to achieving it.
Lost some grip in the mid section (could be different for different readers) & made for a read where you have to push yourself to complete it. But, I liked the last part on 'Resilience' the most.

[Terri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not finish this book. I could not take anymore. It was on a list recommended to me so I decided to listen. No. Basically to succeed you have to have perfect hair, perfect makeup, perfect dress and wear stockings. Does not apply to my life at all.

[LK · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book did have some valuable ideas and overall empowering themes, it was very repetitive. I enjoyed all the different stories and quotes from successful women. I thought, however, that some of the material could be summed up on fewer pages. Perhaps with more stories and examples.

[Ashley Tovar · Rating 2 out of 5]

The occasional useful tip/idea buried under mounts of cliche crap.

[Haley Arzt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for #NonFictionNovember!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too business focused. Not what I was looking for so I didn’t finish it.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've heard Grace Killelea speak before and really got a lot from the session. I thought I would get even more from the book, but I found it hard to get through.

[Roopa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Nothing new here

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good pep talk! Need to work on networking and IPO - Information, Power and Opportunity

[Heather Larcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be an awesome book for any woman doing the "personal brand" thing. Solid, specific advice for the presentation and marketing of brand you.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

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