From Self-Doubt to The Confident Leader – A Preview

🎙 COMING SOON – New Podcast Episode Preview

What does it really take to grow from self-doubt to confident leadership?

In this upcoming episode of Life & Leadership Connected, I sit down with Ana Larrea-Albert—leadership expert, professor, and author of The Confident Leader—to talk about the mindset shifts, frameworks, and self-awareness that transform not just how we lead, but who we are.

This short clip gives you a taste of what’s coming—real talk, honest reflection, and tools you can apply in your own leadership journey.

🔊 Hit play, get inspired—and stay tuned for the full episode dropping soon.

🗓️ Full episode releases: May 15

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Transcript

Ana Larea-Albert: 0:00

From being uh a performer, right? An individual performer to all of a sudden my performance needing to be around, how do I empower my team? So that was an important jump. Thanks to that question, I'm doing a little bit of these moments, leapfrog moments in my career. Really the main difference between the non-leader to the leader role has been that shift of focus from it's about me and my performance and my numbers and me fulfilling quotas and me turning in assignments on time to how do I make sure that I create the space, the psychological safety, the challenge, right? Because we want to challenge our team to grow and develop and become their best selves. So it's no longer about me, it's about them. "Your Mess is your Message , your Test is your Testament". So what was my mess? Finding confidence in, for instance, what I mentioned before, stepping into that executive role. was terrifying. I did not know. I'd never been an executive before. I didn't know what to do, but had I had some of the tools in my book, which by the way, are the ones that I've. used throughout writing the book, because I have found myself in a lot of self-doubt as I'm writing the book and I've used these tools, but I wish I would have had these tools already in those really difficult moments in my career. So it's my gift. I like to think of it as my love letter to fellow high performers who are sometimes feeling these moments of I'm not sure what to do. Am I enough? it was part of my program to have executive coaching done to me. It was so transformational, David, looking at all the assessments, personality assessments, strengths assessments, communication style. Everything that I do now with my students, with my coachees, my mentees, and seeing on paper all of the things that made me me, that for whatever reason I didn't have so clearly in front of me. Maybe they were there, I was maybe assuming I could do something well or not, but having that clarity of these are my strengths and this is, what I bring to every situation, regardless of the situation, this is in me. Also understanding what those gaps were, what that, that those areas of development, instead of considering, considering them weaknesses, because again, it's very negatively loaded. These are great opportunities for growth. So understanding that my landscape of strengths and areas of development, It gave me purpose to make a difference. So I had been for a really long time, very focused on myself. So I wanted to be the CEO of a Fortune 1000 company, especially as a Latina here in the US , that was my goal back then. And it motivated me to a point. However, I realized in that process of learning about myself that I had, I was focusing on me and it was all about me and my growth and I need to be this and I want that title. And part of that exercise around my strengths was understanding that I had a lot of potential to help others. It's not that I wasn't helping people already, but I realized that I could become even more fulfilled if I turn that spotlight from me onto others. there's also a message in there somewhere to listen to your intuition, to surrender to a greater calling when it feels so strongly. To trust that you are aligned, that you are on a wavelength that will eventually bring you where you need to go.