Self-confidence and Leader Performance

Abstract

We have all seen it in nearly every walk of life; two people with comparable skills turn out very different levels of performance— one succeeds and one fails. One executive pulls off the successful turnaround of a failing business; another cannot quite make it happen. One golf pro makes the crucial putt; the other misses it. One opera singer hits the high note; another misses it. One person is able to pull herself out of a career rut and make a fundamental career transformation, while the other remains in the same souldeadening routine. How can we account for such different performance levels among people who, from all we can see, are equally qualified for the challenge? Research and practice into performance and career differences like our examples are increasingly identifying selfconfidence as one factor that carries some to achievement and, when missing, causes others to fail, or even fail to try. In fact, a review by Alexander Stajkovic and Fred Luthans of empirical research studies of perceived self-efficacy (the academician’s term for self-confidence) has found that increased self-confidence can translate into significant performance improvements. In their article Stajkovic and Luthans challenge readers ‘‘. . . to further build on this foundation and select and/or develop high self-efficacy in today’s and tomorrow’s human resources’’ (p. 73). In this paper we will take up this challenge. We focus here specifically on the performance of organization leaders in the leadership and