This month, I'm excited to bring you my conversation with Clar Rosso, CEO of (ISC)², the world's leading organization for cybersecurity professionals.

I had the opportunity to work closely with Clar (she was my former boss and mentor in a previous organization), and I experienced first-hand how Clar’s confidence in herself and others is contagious.

When we worked together, I often wondered, and occasionally asked Clar: How are you so fearless?

What I learned was that Clar wasn’t afraid of not succeeding – and she believed that no matter what, we would learn, iterate and figure out another option if the initial plan didn’t go as expected.

As Clar says in this episode: "You're going to succeed some of the time. And fail some of the time. But you've got to try ALL of the time."

In this episode, we dig into the source of Clar’s confidence and how her penchant for dreaming big, believing in herself and being unafraid of failure has consistently fueled her success, and the success of people around her.

Listen in as Clar and I discuss:

-- How confidence feels like freedom

-- Why everyone needs confidence, especially women in the workplace

-- Taking risks and exploring non-linear career paths with more curiosity and less fear

-- Seeing and receiving feedback as a gift

-- Tips when facing something that feels scary

As always, I hope you find value in the episode and I invite you to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcast, which will help other women find this podcast and future episodes.

If you’re looking for support building more confidence to fuel your success, I’d love to help you. Reserve a spot on my calendar to learn more about my 1:1 and small group coaching program:

https://calendly.com/theconfidencelabs/15min

If you haven't had a chance yet to the read Marissa Orr's best-selling book LEAN OUT: The Truth About Women, Power and the Workplace, this conversation I had with Marissa is the high-level primer you need. And if you have read the book, you'll enjoy getting to hear more about it from Marissa herself.

Bonus, you'll also hear the story behind the story (i.e., how this interview came to be), which may help give you a boost next time you're facing the idea of stretching outside your comfort zone.

An entire chapter of LEAN OUT is devoted to confidence, in which Marissa examines popular research on the confidence gender gap, calling out important flaws and presenting a new perspective that will challenge many people to think, and perhaps think differently, about it.

As she says in this episode: "I didn't write it to change people's minds. I wrote it to reach out to the women who felt like I did but didn't have the voice and the perspective or the platform to articulate that."

Listen in as we cover:

--How Marissa's experiences with LEAN IN and women's initiatives in large tech companies left her feeling disenchanted

--Why she wrote LEAN OUT and what she hopes it will achieve

--New ways of thinking about and defining confidence

--Creating new systems to empower women and achieve gender equity vs. tearing down the old ones

--Being "the underdog" and using it to your advantage

--Doing hard things, and putting in the work

I hope this episode reaches every woman who needs to hear it. And I hope more women and men will read LEAN OUT and continue these important conversations. 

Other Resources to Help You

In addition to this podcast, you can also explore my 1:1 and group coaching programs for more support at: https://theconfidencelabs.com

If you're ready right now to get past fear and doubt and into action on important goals, consider enrolling in the first cohort of my Next Level Confidence Camp starting October 29. Learn more here: https://www.theconfidencelabs.com/services

If you're interested, don't overthink it, go ahead and book a time so we can chat: https://calendly.com/theconfidencelabs/15min?month=2020-10

Get a Free Copy of LEAN OUT Sent Straight to Your House

Now that you've listened to the episode, let's get you a copy of the book!

I'm sending a free copy of LEAN OUT to the first three people who leave a rating and review of the episode on Apple Podcast.

Share an insight or key take away you had from the episode in your review, and then email a screengrab to me at hello [at] theconfidencelabs [dot] com so I can ship it out right away!

As always, thank you for listening, subscribing, leaving a rating/review, and being part of the journey!

After semi-accidentally launching the trailer episode of The Truth About Confidence in July, I'm back with official episode #1. I used a real microphone this time! 

And to help me get things really kicked off with the show, I invited friend and former colleague Shebbra Toussaint to join me for a conversation about confidence, her journey with confidence and impostor syndrome as a Black woman in the workplace, and some of the most valuable lessons she has learned so far.

Listen in as we explore:

I hope this conversation and the insights Shebbra and I explored together reach any woman who needs to hear these words, to know you are not alone, to know you are worthy, and to feel uplifted knowing that we are rooting for you. Be well!

Welcome to The Truth about Confidence, a brand new podcast for women who want to learn the science and art of confidence. 

This show will explore common challenges women face (known as the confidence gender gap), and share stories that inform and inspire. The world needs more confident women, and this podcast is intended to help you believe in yourself more so you can show up, speak up, and lead with more confidence and less self-doubt.

Before we go further, you should know something about me. I've wanted to host a podcast for the past 10 years, but I wasn't sure where or how to start, and I didn't think I was ready -- until an hour ago, when I finally realized on a walk with the dog that I've got to "just do it" (to borrow from Nike). 

As a leader, coach and mentor to women, I know and teach that "not ready yet" is a lie we tell ourselves to avoid scary things. And the truth (as I talk more about in this trailer episode) is that action is the ultimate antidote to our limiting beliefs and fears. So this podcast is a living example of killing fear through action.

I'm Heather Pownall, founder and CEO of The Confidence Labs, which offers classes and coaching to help women learn about confidence, identify the ways they hold back (and why), and learn to consistently take action over fear. 

I can promise you this episode and all of the ones that follow will NOT BE PERFECT. (That's in all caps as a reminder to myself, mostly.) I'll make mistakes as I learn and iterate. I may fail to reach anyone with this, and may only have one listener (shout out to my little sister, Danielle - thanks, sis!). Who knows...

What I do know is that being willing to show up and be seen, and share our authentic-yet-imperfect selves is something we all -- especially as women -- must be willing to do more of in order to grow and lead more powerfully. The world needs our voices, our leadership. If you're striving or waiting for "perfect" you'll never say or do the hard or scary things. The world will never know and benefit from your full gifts and potential.

Shrinking into the shadows, hiding from being called on, not raising your hand, not speaking up when you've got important things to say, rationalizing and settling instead of stretching outside your comfort zone, internalizing other people's feedback instead of trusting your own, and putting off saying and doing what you know you want to say and do -- those are learned habits and they're based in fear. 

If any of those sound familiar, you're not alone. Up to 70% of women struggle with self-doubt -- especially in their careers, in business, in politics --  despite having competence and a track record of success. The good news is that we can unlearn limiting thoughts and bad habits and replace them with better ones that open up new possibilities and growth. 

That's the work happening at The Confidence Labs, and it's the stuff I'll be digging into and talking about here on this show. I'll be sharing what I've learned, what I'm still learning, and ahas from my own experiences. I'll also be bringing on guests to share their stories. The purpose of this show is to teach and inspire. If that sounds like something you want more of, check out this trailer episode and like, subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes coming soon. 

For now, it’s so nice to meet you and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this trailer and ideas for future episodes. What questions do you have about confidence? What’s your biggest challenge or struggle? Is there a specific skill, practice or approach you've learned that has helped you show up and lead with more authentic confidence? If so, please share it with me at [email protected]. You can also leave a comment on the podcast page.