Season 2, Episode 06:Confidence: Leadership Success with Coach BZ

Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If you need to develop into a better leader, this podcast is for you. If you want to achieve a greater level of success, this podcast is for you. His mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell, said it best: everything rises and falls on leadership. We hope to inspire you today and provide you with an insight that has the potential to positively impact the trajectory of your life. Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast.

All right everybody, this is Coach Bizzy coming to you from Silicon Valley. I'm very glad to be with you again for our 6th episode for our second season. So today I will be talking about confidence. I believe confidence is probably the most critical skill or characteristic of a leader. So To get started here, let's think about some of the leaders that you really like, even from history or people who are alive today. You will notice that almost everybody is really looking for direction, right? Things seem to be kind of uncertain in life. There is a lot of uncertainty and people are not at ease about what's going on with the market, with the economy, or the world might be coming to an end. Wars or rumors of wars and things like that, and they are really looking for somebody who's going to stand up, who feels like they know what they're doing, and who are going to tell them exactly what to do. So if you think of a great leader, more than likely they have a lot of confidence. And unfortunately, even those leaders who are not that great, those who are maybe tyrant or dictator, usually that's also what they show, right? The charisma, what they have that attracts other people, is their certainty and their confidence. So again, I believe confidence is the number one quality of a leader, and people are looking for people who know what they are talking about, and people are going to tell them what to do. Now, let me use an example from history. Let's talk about Sir Winston Churchill. This was in 1940. June 4th, 1940. So England was under attack, they were pretty much being bombed to oblivion by the Germans. About half of the population felt like they were not going to make it, they almost wanted to surrender. But there was a man, Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time. He had great confidence, and here is one of his, I think, the major speech during that time that really got things to turn around for England. So I'm going to play a little bit of his speech. This is from the movie The Darkest Hour, so it's a dramatic reenactment of the speech, I believe, that changed everything during World War II. Here we go.

Turning once again to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion could have been given to our people. But I have myself full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected and the best arrangements are made as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary, for years, if necessary, alone. At any rate, that is what we are, are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's government, every man of them. To your right, that is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of Gestapo. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of the Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

Fail.

We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with, with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender! And if, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle. Until in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation All right, uh, this is one of my favorite speeches, right?

So in this moment of despair, this one man, this one leader, used his confidence and pretty much shared it with this entire country. And I think there are kind of 3 things that happen when a confident leader speaks, right? Number 1, they kind of empathize with the audience. Yes, I know what you're feeling, I know where we are, right? At the beginning of the speech, he was saying how many have fallen to the grip of the Gestapo, right? But then he doesn't stop there. He says, I am going to now restore your confidence and even more than that, I'm gonna put us as a country back on track into a hopeful, hopeful future. That is what confidence does. It says, "We shall defend to the death, we shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, on the seas and ocean, we shall defend our island whatever the cost will be, we shall fight on the beaches, fight on the landing grounds, in the fields, on the streets, in the hills, we shall never, never, never, never surrender." That is what the voice of confidence is, and it's very, very contagious. And even in the movie, prior to that time, pretty much the majority of people in Parliament in the UK, they were ready to just give up. They had that white flag, say, okay, that's it, we give up, we don't want any more death. But Winston Churchill was the one man who had that great faith and confidence, and because of him, the entire country kind of rallied around him, and eventually we know that the West won the war. So Another example I'm gonna use is the speech by JFK, right, our president. That was back in July 21st, 1969. He had this crazy, crazy dream of going to the moon, and he wanted to go by the end of the decade. This was again in 1962, September 12th, 1962. JFK wanted America to be the first to go to the moon. So here is the inspirational speech of a very confident leader. Here we go.

If I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food, and survival on an untried mission to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to Earth, reentering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun, almost as hot as it is here today, and do all this, and do all this and do it right, and do it first, before this decade is out, then we must be bold.

I'm the one who's doing all the work, so we just want to stay cool for a minute.

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the '60s. It may be done while some of you are still here at school. At this college and university. It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done, and it will be done before the end of this decade. And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America. Many years ago, the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there." Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it. And the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And therefore, as we As we set sail, we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you. All right, that was JFK with his vision to go to the moon. Again, this was 1962, if you can imagine this, September 12, 1962. In Houston, Texas, and this president is talking crazy. He's like, hey, we're gonna go to the moon, it's never been done before. We are like in the height of the Cold War, right, with Russia. He says not only we're gonna get it done, but we're gonna be the first one to do it. That confidence, that certainty that he had, it was very, very contagious. Like, I remember a story, he went to visit NASA, I believe it was in Texas, and he saw a janitor, he was sweeping the floor, right, And the president just shook his hand and said, "Hey, how are you doing? Like, what are you up to?" And this is what the janitor told the president of the United States. He says, "Sir, I am working to put a man on the moon." And I think as a leader, it is really— it reflects great on you when everybody in your organization, from the very, very top to the very, very bottom, right, up and down the chain of command, when everybody has one single vision and everybody knows exactly why they are going to work and what they are doing, what their place is in accomplishing the mission of the organization. In the Navy, we always say, right, mission first, people always. Mission has to be first, and everybody in the organization has to have the same mission. They have to really buy into that, and really, once you do that, really nothing is impossible. Again, just like Churchill, JFK did the same thing, kind of, yes, I understand what you are thinking, this looks like it's completely out of the realm of the possibility, but he's like, no, no, I'm gonna restore your confidence and I'm gonna put you back on track so that we can have a hopeful future. He says it must be done, it must be done before the end of this decade. So that was in 1962, so by 1970 it had to be done, and we did it on July 21st, 1969 at 2 o'clock, 2:56 GMT. Neil Armstrong was the first man to be on the moon. So he really took something that was completely impossible and made it possible by sharing his vision and this contagious confidence. Now, another one I would like to show you was President Ronald Reagan. This was on January 28th, 1986. He was supposed to have given the State of the Union, but the Challenger spacecraft actually exploded, and there was, for the very first time, a woman, a teacher, who was on board, so a civilian. And the great majority— I wasn't in this country at the time, but my wife was here and she was going to school and she was watching on TV, like millions of kids across the country were watching. This was really a national event. So the first time in history a civilian and a woman is going to go on the Moon. So there was a lot of publicity and there was a lot of hope. And this is what actually happened. Here is President Reagan's speech.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the State of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the Shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss. 19 years ago, almost to the day, we lost 3 astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger 7, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn 7 heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. To the families of the 7, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years, the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers. And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them. I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews, and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here. Our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them your dedication and professionalism professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades, and we know of your anguish. We share it. There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime, the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on in it and was buried in it. Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew, their dedication was like Drake's, complete. The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us for the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and— slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God. Thank you.

All right, this was the speech by Ronald Reagan. This was January 28th, 1986. So when the Space Challenger exploded, as the leader, again, he did 3 things, right? He empathized with the people, first with the nation, as we are mourning all together, but he also specifically talked to the family of the 7 that died, and then he also talked to the people who worked at NASA. And you have to remember, after the explosion, many times people tend to overreact, right, when there is a crisis. So there was a lot of people who really wanted to completely stop this space program. No, we don't want to go to space anymore. We need to shut down NASA. And again, Ronald Reagan, as our leader, says, no, no, no, we're gonna restore confidence and we're gonna be back on track. He says, nothing ends here. And he says that with confidence. Yes, I feel your pain and I am with you, but no, this is not the end, this is only the beginning. There is much more discovery we have to do. And then kind of showed us a path forward. Again, all of this again to say that Confidence is one of the highest, greatest characteristics of an effective leader. Another more recent example, I was here in the US when this happened, was during 9/11. Let's listen to President George W. Bush, September 11, 2001. I think everybody remembers that day. Thank you all. I want you all to know— I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knees. In prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. I can hear you! I can hear you.

The rest of the world hears you.

And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! All right, I am pretty sure everybody who was listening to me remembers exactly where they were. That was 20 years ago, right? September 11, 2001, when this happened. And there was a great moment of despair across the entire country. It was almost as if the world was coming to an end. Nobody knew what to do, a lot of uncertainty. No more travel, cell phone. I remember I was working at the University of Alabama. I was in my lab in microbiology. I couldn't even call my wife or my kids. And even in Alabama, we didn't have telephone any longer. And watching TV, trying to figure out exactly what is going on. This is one of the reasons why I actually joined the U.S. military. And many people, when I joined John, for the same exact reason. But what I want to say is that as a confident leader, what George W. Bush did is he took this moment of despair and really even changed it into a moment of, I want to say euphoria, there was chanting, but at least hope, right? He put us back on track as a country and gave us hope again. Why? Because of confidence, the confidence of the leader. And that was very, very contagious, right? And that is what a leader is called to do. When there is time of uncertainty, the leader rises and then says, "Yes, I feel what you are feeling. This is a moment of mourning," he says. But then the phrase I think everybody will remember is he said, "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you." And then he says, "The people who knocked down this building will hear all of us soon." And that was really what America needed to hear at that time. Shortly after that, I think his approval rating went up to what, 79%? I think that's the highest approval rating in history. No president in this country has ever had such high approval rating. And this kind of started the healing process for America. I'm not going to get into politics and what happened after that, but my focus right now for this podcast is to talk about the confidence of a leader, why it is so critical and why you should be confident as a leader as well. Now the last example I have to talk about this is what's happening in Ukraine right now. Volodymyr Zelensky, right, the president of Ukraine. Here, this was, I believe, on March 1st, 2022, so about, what, 2 weeks ago. Here is a speech he made to the UN. Let's listen for just a second.

This morning was a very tragic one for us. Two cruise missiles hit Kharkiv, the city which is located to the borders of the Russian Federation. There were always many Russians there, and they're always friendly. There were warm relations there. More than 20 universities are there. It's the city that has the largest number of universities in our country. This is called the Freedom Square. Can you imagine? This morning, two cruise missiles hit this Freedom Square. Dozens of killed ones. This is the price of freedom. We are fighting just for our land and for our freedom. Despite the fact that all large cities of our country are now blocked, nobody is going to enter and intervene with our freedom and country. And believe you me, every square of today, no matter what it's called, it's going to be called as today Freedom Square. In every city of our country. Nobody is going to break us. We are strong. We are Ukrainians.

Right, so this one here reminds me very much of the first speech I played from Winston Churchill, right, during World War II. So he is saying Freedom Square. He says doesn't wear killed, but this is the price of freedom. And then he says, we are fighting just for our land and for our freedom, so we are going to fight until the end. Kind of like Winston Churchill saying, we will never ever ever ever surrender. So when you have a leader who's so courageous and so confident, that really affects the people who are following such a leader. And also to kind of think about his leadership style, right, my understanding is our president, President Biden, actually tried to offer him a way to escape, sent him an airplane to bring him outside of the country in safety before the Russians invaded his country. He's like, no, no, I don't need a ride right now, I need bullets, I need ammunition because I'm going to fight with my people. That's really what leadership is all about. And I want to show you a couple of pictures here, you know, the difference between a boss and a leader. If you can see that at the top is Vladimir Putin, who is the boss, and everybody is serving him and working for him. And here is a leader who's working with his people in order to achieve the mission of the organization. And another picture that shows such a huge contrast, right, is the picture of Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, on this long, long executive board conference room. He is on one side all by himself with all of his people on the other side, but here is a leader with his people and breaking bread and really having that sense of fellowship, of relation to those, that's really what leadership is all about. Which reminds me of Gates of Fire, which is non-fiction. I usually don't read non-fiction, but this is an exception. It's written by Steven Pressfield, and it really talks about what leadership is all about. I want you to hear directly from the author what a king is and what a king should be. Not a boss, but a leader. Somebody who's going to be serving his people and not somebody who's willing to be served by his people. What a contrast.

A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. In this episode, I want to go back to Gates of Fire and talk about it for a moment. And this will be our last episode where we really talk about the Spartans. Now, the narrative structure of Gates of Fire is that the story begins after the battle is over. The Persians have won. All 300 Spartans and their allies are dead. In other words, the story's told in flashback. And what happens is from the pile of bodies, the Persians managed to pull one person, a battle squire named Xeones, who's just barely breathing and technically has actually died. And the Persian physicians bring him back to life because King Xerxes, the Persian king, wants to interrogate him. And what he wants to ask him is, "Who were these men that stood up against us against such incredible overwhelming odds, that killed 40 of my men for every one of them they lost, and then knew they were going to die from the start, and yet stood and did their duty?" And more than that, the Persian King Xerxes wants to know about the Spartan king, his counterpart, Leonidas. What kind of a man was he? Did he wear a crown like me? Did he have a throne? Why was he there on the field fighting alongside his men and dying? And so Xeones, the battle squire, he gives this little answer to the king of Persia. I'm going to read it. I will tell His Majesty what a king is. A king does not abide within his tent, while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A king does not command his men's loyalty through fear, nor purchase it with gold. He earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which comprises the harshest burden, a king lifts first and sets down last. A king does not require service of those he leads, but provides it to them. He serves them, not they him. Now, this ideal of kingship is really new to phalanx warfare, and particularly to the Spartans, who had two kings when a lot of the other cities were absolute democracies. But the reason I'm bringing this up is that we've been talking about archetypes, about the warrior archetype, but there's another archetype beyond the warrior archetype, and that is the king archetype or the queen archetype.

All right, so that was Steven Pressfield reading from his book Gates of Fire. Again, I usually don't read nonfiction, but this is definitely a book everybody should read. It teaches so much about leadership, right? A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon on the field. If you are going to be a leader, you need to be willing to serve your people. For those who are people of faith, who read the Bible, even Jesus, which is really the example of, you know, the best example of leadership of a Christian, he was the one who actually washed the feet of his disciples. That is really something. Being in a position of authority but really are using that power in order to help others and not help yourself, right? A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. And I really like the last word he says, no, the king he serves them, the people, but not them he. And that was really a big, big contrast between President Zelensky and Vladimir, put down, at least we've been able to see. But again, the one thing that really attracts people to a leader is confidence, right? I've always said leadership is the most critical skill in the 21st century, and I believe that is true. I don't think I can say this without fear of contradiction, but as a leader, I think the number one quality is confidence. When you have it, people are going to follow you, people are going to listen to you. Especially when there is chaos and uncertainty and people don't know what is happening. There is this time of despair across the entire organization or the nation when somebody stands up and says, no, this is exactly what we are going to do and this is the way forward. Someone who can restore our confidence but also empathize with our pain and with our feelings, but then put us back on track for a hopeful future. Those are the type of leaders that the world needs today. That is really what leadership is all about. So if you have any question for me, please type it in the comments, but I am going to finish by saying that a leader should really be the calm in the center of the storm, right? And the leader's attitude, mindset, mood is the greatest contagion on a team. And if you are called to be a leader, you are supposed to be influencing the people around you.. And I think it was Coach K who said, right, your people should never see you sweat, right? If you are afraid, if you don't have much courage, keep it to yourself. When you are in front of your teammates, in front of the people you are leading, you really have to show them the attitude of winning and confidence, right? And again, I'm not asking you to really fake it. I think it's something that you really gain with a lot of experience through everything you have gone through in life and all of the battles you have endured and won. That kind of builds confidence in you, and I think people can really tell if you are faking it or if you, you are real. And if you are real, they really will follow you. And in my experience in the U.S. Navy, that's probably one of the number one reasons I think why in the service people would follow a leader to death, right? People would be willing to actually give their life for a brother, a sister in arms. They don't get paid as much as people do in the industry, so money is definitely not the motivation there, but when somebody is leading them and they have that sense of confidence, everybody wants to follow. So I really believe the great reason for success for a lot of the people we admire, people who have pretty much, you know, turn industries upside down, this disrupted all industries, is because of their confidence. Because confidence really is power, but it is earned and developed and it is grown. Another example I'm thinking about now is Elon Musk, right? He has disrupted so many industries, from the car, electric industry, space, right? Even now NASA, the US government, depends on him for a lot of work. They they have to do solar energy. I mean, it's really incredible. This man is not even from the US, he's originally from Africa like I am. He came from South Africa and today he's a natural citizen, just like I am, but he's now the richest person in the world. But that's not how he started. And I remember, I think one of his first trials, there was an explosion as well and some of his key people actually died. And many people were kind of pushing him to pretty much shut down SpaceX. And he's like, no, no, no, this is only the beginning, we are going to continue. Then again, he did what only a leader can do, from what I've heard. He empathized with the feelings of the people who worked for him. Yes, this was a tragedy and people died, but then he restored their confidence and then, number 3, put them back on track for a hopeful future. So space exploration is definitely going to be a thing, and Elon Musk is going to be part part of it. That's again what leaders do, right? They make us feel safe, right? And there is really this transmission of confidence from a leader who really has it and able to affect the people around them. And that's all I am going to say for now about confidence. Maybe at another podcast, I'm going to talk a little bit about what we can do in order to increase that confidence in us. Because as a leader, you really have to build that confidence at a very high level. The level of confidence you have today as a person is dependent on a lot of things. One is your childhood, the way you grew up, the way your parents treated you, or the people you esteemed highly, whether your teachers, your grandparents, or people in your church, your pastors, ministers, and things they they said to you and the experience you had, that is going to affect how confident you are today. Your religion also will affect how confident you are today. Just society and culture via media, what everybody thinks about you. Advertising, I think, has a lot to do with it too, right? Because pretty much the world of— the reason for advertising is to remove your confidence so that you feel like you need to buy whatever it is that they are selling in order to restore that confidence. Whether it's a shiny car, a very expensive watch, or whatever it might be, whatever toy or gadget they are selling, they're telling you, you need to buy this in order to restore your confidence. So many, many, many, many things will affect the way you feel today, including your friends and your associates, right? Somebody said that Your reference group is probably the most critical thing that is going to impact your success in life, the people you associate with. And finally, I think your previous performance will affect your confidence as well. But I believe the good news is no matter what the level of your confidence is right now, you can change it. You can do something about it. You can increase your confidence. And again, probably In another podcast in the future, we're gonna talk about things that you may be able to do in order to increase your confidence as a leader, because your people depend on it. You have to be confident, you have to show that confidence, and you need to be able to show emotional intelligence, empathize with the people you are leading, be really willing to lead them and not them serving you, but you leading from, from the front, restore their confidence, and then put them on track toward whatever mission and goal you have as an organization or a team. So I am looking in LinkedIn right now. I don't see any specific question for me. So until next time, this is Coach Bizy and reminding you to keep your confidence and work to build your confidence as a leader because it is, I believe, the number one quality of an effective leader. Until next time. Bye.

Thank you for listening to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our channels and come back for more wisdom nuggets on how you may develop into a better leader and achieve greater levels of success. Leadership is the most critical skill. The world will always need leaders to lead others, deploy the next disruptive technology, or execute a business strategy. You may as well decide on counting yourself among the 21st century leaders. See you right here next time on the Leadership and Success Podcast with Coach BZ.