EP 141: Real Confidence- 10 Signs Your Boss Lacks Confidence and wants to Steal Yours

You know that boss who needs to be copied on every email? Has to sit in every meeting? Somehow manages to take credit when things go well and locate someone else to blame when they don’t?

We need to talk about that person.

Because we tend to give bosses a whole lot of confidence credit just because they’re the boss. They have the title. They have the authority. They’re telling everyone else what to do, often with impressive certainty. So surely they must be confident, right?

Oh, my friends. No.

Some of the most maddening boss behavior is insecurity hiding behind a job title: the micromanaging, the gossip, the refusal to give someone else the spotlight and, worse than that, keeping talented people firmly positioned beneath them instead of giving them opportunities to grow. Even that boss who refuses to challenge a ridiculous policy because “that’s the way we’ve always done it" is telling you something important about their relationship with confidence, and once you start looking at those behaviors through that lens, a lot of the workplace nonsense starts making sense.  

This is where so many of us get into trouble because unless and until you can spot it, their insecurity can mess with your confidence. 

When someone constantly second-guesses you, withholds credit or treats your competence like a threat, it’s way too easy to wonder whether the problem might actually be you. Please do not give them that much real estate in your brain.

I’ve got 10 pretty reliable signs that your boss may be struggling with confidence, plus some practical ways to deal with it without immediately polishing your résumé. If you’ve ever left a meeting thinking, What the hell is wrong with this person?, press play. You may finally have your answer.