Conversation In Confidence: Unleashing Your Leadership Superpower

0:09Emma Woods:Welcome to today's Conversation in Confidence and I'm really delighted that we've got the amazing Jeannette Linfoot here, a former corporate CEO and now a very successful entrepreneur who is passionate, a bit like me, in terms of developing female leaders. and we sit together on balance the board and we're going to get some practical tips from Jeanette but I'm going to start with a sort of I guess the basic question is do you think confidence matters in in for female leaders? 100 % most definitely it's critical because you find yourself as you grow your career that you're going to be pushed out of your comfort zone more and more so therefore how you deal with that and how you're able to portray yourself both internally to yourself but also externally is absolutely critical.

0:55So confidence, yeah, it's going to be one of your superpowers if you can crack it, I would say. And what are your tips for the audience?

1:03Emma Woods:I know I've seen you on stage, you look incredibly confident, but what are your tips? How do you develop that? How have you developed that? Well, I think the first thing is the more you practice something, the easier it gets. So the first time you stand on a stage, the first time you give a presentation, whatever it might be, it's going to feel very uncomfortable. The key I think is to keep going. So the more you do that the easier it gets I would definitely say. But for me I think one of the things that's really helped is it's kind of working on myself internally because there's confidence which I think is it's how you come outwardly to the world but then there's belief there's self-belief and that's more of an inside job so for me I you know I really spend time working on myself and and kind of you know reminding myself where things have gone well and someone was taking the evidence and just using that to power me forward and to have that inner voice that goes I can't do this come on you can do it you can do this so I think you have to be self-aware but work on yourself inwardly which will then help you portray a more confident kind of external view of yourself really as well.

2:19Emma Woods:And I mean I find it almost sort of odd to ask you this question because you look so confident, but do you have moments when you have felt really low in terms of confidence? You've had setbacks, you've had rejections, have you got had those moments? Yeah I mean I have them regularly to be honest. But you know I think one particular standout time for me was I'd gone for a big promotion it was when I was at Thomas Cook and it would have been a first director role for me and I didn't get it and I was convinced I was going to get it thought that job's mine and I was so shocked about it that you know I it really did knock me back and they brought someone else in who actually had been an old colleague of mine in a previous life who happened to be a man and and he's a great guy but I was just like I was fuming I was so angry at the time but then I think I was looking at almost not blame as such but I was looking at all the external all the other reasons why I didn't get it but I didn't actually really take a good look at me and say well hang on a minute you didn't get that for a reason what could I have done differently yeah what do you learn from it yeah I mean that's something yeah whenever I have a setback I think can I learn a bit from this yeah exactly and I think you have to take accountability so when you do fail at something or you get knocked back whatever it might be you know there'll be a whole host of reasons for that but you but you there will also be things that you could have approached slightly differently so I think to see a setback as learning and an opportunity to grow and you know yes you might be down for a while but try not to stay there too long yeah um so you know I think exercise fresh air all of these things when you've had a bad time be it personally or professionally, I think to just try and create some space for yourself just to calm down, think logically and come through it and then go, right, OK, I've learned something, I'll do it differently next time.

4:15And then that can really help you as you move forward.

4:18Emma Woods:And when you look back at some of those hitbacks, you actually think in retrospect, it was good that you didn't get those things. That's something I find is that actually set things that I thought I should have got. I then in my career because it didn't happen in quite that way. Yeah, I think sometimes the things happen for a reason, don't they? And actually when I didn't get that promotion, what I then ended up doing was getting headhunted by a competitor that then gave me my first board position. And actually it was a better environment. It was a better organization for me. I joined First Choice as product director and then I was really off and running.

4:55So had I actually stayed and got the promotion internally at Thomas Cook I wouldn't have left and then the rest of my career possibly would have taken a very different turn and ultimately Thomas Cook went under you know many years later for various reasons but yeah I think hindsight's a great thing isn't it but even in the darkest of moments there's normally something to be grateful for and I think practicing gratitude every morning I practice gratitude yeah no me too me too I think it's fantastic yeah okay so now you're a successful

5:26Emma Woods:entrepreneur flying around the world I know you're about to go to the US how do you kind of stay confident because I suppose one of the challenges I see is that as you get more senior and you're a little bit older you've got a whole host of other challenges both physical challenges and also what's going on in your life with with family etc caring responsibilities how do you stay kind of grounded and confident now I think it's really important who spend time with and and you know whether it's mentors coaches you know people in your life that will be there to support and lift you up but people that are a few steps ahead is really helpful as well because you know that then can often be you know the piece of advice that you need or someone to act as a sounding board so I have incredible people in my life formally and informally actually mentors and coaches that have really helped me especially when I've been starting a new business or when I I decided to jump out of corporate life to kind of go down our own entrepreneurial journey.

6:30So I think you need different people at different times of your life. And having that is really helpful. And sometimes people see something in you that you don't see in yourself. And that can be super helpful. So for me, that helps me continue to grow and learn and stretch myself. I never want to just tick along. I always want to be pushing out of my comfort zone because I always think, well, what if? You know, what's possible? How far can we go? Can we take Brave Bold Brilliant as our brand global? Why not? Why can't we do that? You know, so I would hate to have any regrets in life. I don't want to be looking back and thinking, oh, I wish I'd tried that.

7:09And, you know, so I was saying, give it a go. How bad can something be?

7:13Emma Woods:But you're basically you've got a community of fans and advisors around you to support you. That would be a piece of advice that you would give. definitely definitely and then I think the other thing is around the bit the belief you've really you know if you believe in yourself and it is hard sometimes but the more you can realize the strengths you have no one no one can be you you're unique and different everyone has you know incredible experiences knowledge there's always something to give and I think if you can really work on your own self-belief that will be your superpower and it will open doors for you it will mean you push yourself out of your comfort zone and that's really where the magic happens so I would say definitely the self-belief and having the right people in your camp and not being afraid to fail don't you know don't see failure as a negative it's not it's where you learn and grow so those are some of the things that have helped me that's brilliant well I have been inspired by you today and before so thank you ever so much I'm sure that those pieces of advice will be really helpful.

8:15Emma Woods:See you next time for more Conversations in Competence.

8:22I really hope you've enjoyed this episode of Brave Bold Brilliant. Remember, check out our new website www.brave-bold-brilliant.com. You're going to find loads of resources on there that's going to help you with your leadership journey and with the businesses that you're trying to scale up and grow. So take care, everyone. And remember, there are no limits to your growth, but it is by being brave and bold that you're going to unlock your brilliance.