Lean Out: The Truth About Women, Power, and the Workplace

by Marissa Orr

self-esteem is 1. “confidence in our ability to think, confidence in our ability to cope with the basic challenges of life; and 2. confidence in our right to be successful and happy, the feeling of being worthy, deserving, entitled to assert our needs and wants, achieve our values, and enjoy the fruits of our efforts.”12

confidence means trusting oneself.

Confident people feel comfortable hesitating when they’re hesitant. They don’t feel threatened by not having all the answers.

One of the most important things to understand is that self-trust is predicated on honesty. True confidence requires an honest relationship with yourself—a willingness to acknowledge your talents and strengths, and the courage to see and accept the things you lack.

a realistic understanding of who you are, and you trust in your strength, ability, and fortitude to survive challenges in pursuit of the things you want.

If there’s an opposite of confidence, it’s ego. Ego is born of self-deception and feeds on illusion. Confidence is loyalty to the truth, while ego is loyalty to being right.

The corporate world’s power structures reward bravado and crush confidence. And that is the real gap we should be trying to address.

“I will achieve my dreams because I have what it takes to work hard and handle failure”—in