Solutions being lost
Self confidence is a business resource we need to develop
Last week I attended the graduation of the 2023 Co-creatives programme in Tokoroa run by Impact Hub Waikato. It was inspiring to see so many young people striving to develop their businesses, recognising that they need to know how to be in business as well as knowing their product/service.
One of the entrepreneurs discussed how the programme gave her the confidence to be her authentic self.
I thought that was a great comment, but it did make me think a bit. We can be very good at teaching process but what about supporting internal resources such as self-confidence? We know that being in business involves putting yourself out there, selling yourself and having the confidence to trust what you’re doing.
This doesn’t come naturally to so many people and don’t be fooled into thinking extroverts automatically have self-confidence and introverts don’t. Volume, or lack of, can hide so much.
It may be that they simple hate the idea of sales and self-promotion; they may wonder who would be interested in their idea (low esteem); or they may not have the courage to follow their dream – eg because they are the sole income earner for a family of five.
How do we support people to be confident in what they do? Mentors and coaches are a great resource for this, and obviously the Impact Hub Waikato programmes also helps. Traditional business courses however don’t really address this so personally I think this is a real gap in our business ecosystem.
It’s easy to say that if you don’t have the confidence for business, you shouldn’t be in business. There is merit in this statement, not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur and run their own business.
The thing that really struck me last week however was the question I ended up asking myself. How many fabulous ideas have been lost to us through their creators not having the confidence to bring them to life?
And that concerns me.
We need peoples’ ideas to be tested and developed. We need to see their ‘aha moments’ come to life – remember that the best business ideas are the ones that solve a problem.
How do we ensure the best ideas get to market, irrespective of the confidence of their creators?
This seems to me to be a good question to devote a few brain waves to.
Good points, David. I was involved in the Massey University Innovation Centre for several years. It served many roles. An incubator, a close relationship with the university, training, opportunities to present to VCs, and the opportunity to work and network with other startups. Similar to the environment you are describing, it creates opportunities for people with a variety of skills and talents and fills in the gaps.