The Confidence Myth

February 1, 2015

Even today, women are often overly self-depreciating and under confident, especially when it comes to leadership roles. This book by Lerner (founder, womenworking.com; In Her Power) takes aim at that assertion by directly refuting six "confidence myths" that are often voiced by women. These include not feeling capable of tackling a job or project, the idea that one is either a "natural-born" leader or not, that criticism can't be handled objectively, that you have to do everything yourself, that it is too difficult to attract a sponsor or mentor, and not being able to trust your own intuition. While written from Lerner's own perspective as an author and workplace consultant, the book is also based on survey responses from 520 working women. The survey instrument and results are included in an appendix. Sprinkled throughout are a series of useful tips called "Confidence Sparks"--an additional appendix contains 30 more of these sparks, addressing areas not covered in the work's six main chapters. VERDICT A quick, practical, and appealing read about confidence boosting, with data to back it up.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH

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