If you're going to San Francisco on corporate or personal business, you want to do it right. San Francisco is a unique experience, and it should be enjoyed as such. Fine dining, elegant tea rooms, power cocktail bars, the City has style, grace, and drive. San Francisco is an executive's city, the perfect place for business meetings, convention opportunities, and sales negotiations. All you need to do is to bring a certain, shall we say, confidence.
A sense of belonging
San Francisco is a place for people who have it all together, people who are self-possessed, and confident in their approach to life. If you need help to be comfortable in The City, there are at least four ways leaders can boost confidence.
#1 - Look in the mirror:
If professional self-confidence is an art, one form it takes is a professional appearance. You do not hear much about the power-yellow tie these days, but outside of Silicon Valley, executives still dress well. They have an air of authority that comes from a well-selected wardrobe.
But, there has to be something more. You need to consider how you appear in performance, in your leadership style. If you bully, hound, and berate, you have no style. You need to examine your role to make sure your team has the time, talent, and treasure to deliver.
#2 - Listen to yourself.
Ask yourself what you sound like and, then, as others. Leadership does not condescend or demean. Leaders do not scoff or scorn the input and feedback of others. Simply dominating a conversation is no sign of confidence.
You need a style that invites commentary and conference. You want one-on-one conversations with bosses, peers, and staff in casual as well as formal settings. You want to appear collaborative, understanding, and just authoritative enough to look at home in a limousine.
#3 - Lead your talent.
Confident leaders will recognize, reward, and challenge talent. They will set measurable and achievable goals. They will model decision-making, perseverance, and self-control. And, the leader will relinquish control to collaboration and delegation.
They also enjoy rewards and recognition, the sort of strokes afforded by traveling, dining, and being treated well. But, confidence shares the best in social events and connections. Leading, grooming, or developing subordinates, San Francisco is the venue.
#4 - Lift your horizons.
Behaving confident contributes to self-confidence. Imagine your next step, visualize your goals, and run rehearsals. Once you figure out where you want to be, you can step up to it, making it real and tangible enough to try it on.
Once you know what you want to be, you know what you need to learn and go for it. Leaders volunteer for challenges inside and outside the office. Their performance creates an image and imprints those around them. They become their own power center, their own source of confidence.
As you watch the sun set on the Pacific, you can take stock of past and future. Experience and risk contributed to the confidence in yourself. The confidence is the foundation of your leadership skills, and leadership in execution builds your confidence more. It is an adventurous and rewarding personal cycle.
photo credit: Victor1558 via photopin cc
