• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Exclusive

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

Commentary

The Easiest Way to Boost Your Confidence at Work

By
Renae Scott
Renae Scott
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Renae Scott
Renae Scott
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 23, 2016, 2:00 PM ET
534573891
Photograph by Robert Daly via Getty Images

MPW Insider is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for: How can more women leaders instill confidence in the workplace? is written by Renae Scott, CMO of Togo’s Eateries.

One of my first supervisors in the working world struggled with confidence. She continuously questioned every decision and focused only on potential negative outcomes, ultimately paralyzing her team. Her skills weren’t lacking, but her self-doubts created a glass ceiling for all of us and negatively impacted the business. My supervisor was missing a sense of fearlessness that can be learned and unlearned, and that is what gives me hope. Young children lack many of the real and imagined fears that we have accrued over time. They haven’t burned their hands on a stove; they haven’t been told they can’t play baseball with the boys; they haven’t been rejected by their first crush. People learn to fear future outcomes, and we, as leaders, can help them unlearn fictional fears. We can mentor people to articulate their thoughts, feelings, and ideas with confidence.

The first step is to make your employees articulate a strong vision for themselves. At a company and department level, we define a mission and grade our success relative to it. I believe managers should do something similar with their employees. For example, during my annual meeting with each employee, I ask, “Where do you see yourself in one year? What about in five years?” I really don’t care if that future is with Togo’s or another company. The point is, I want my teammates – women and men – to articulate their vision because it instills confidence. Don’t you drive better when you know where you’re going?

See also: 3 Qualities of Remarkably Confident Women

Second, enable your employees to own their successes by quantifying their vision. Let’s say my social marketer’s vision is to create one of Instagram’s most talked about food brands that year. Here’s how we could quantify it: Togo’s will have X Instagram followers who regram our images Y percent of the time. As a result, brand awareness among our target demographic will increase by Z percent. Now, the social marketer can own her results. No matter how self-deprecating she may be, her teammates and I will know that she grew (or didn’t grow) our Instagram presence. Even if she downplays her success, we can toot her horn. And by doing so, help build her confidence.

That brings me to the third point: make acknowledgment a habit. Teach your team to embrace all personalities – particularly the introverts – by hosting a weekly “shout out” meeting. When my team and I hop on the phone every Monday at 11 a.m., each person is required to share something awesome that they or a co-worker did in the last week. It buoys people who might otherwise doubt their own value. Finally, foster a balanced, healthy lifestyle among your team members. Stressed, overworked, and sleep-deprived people do not maintain or grow their confidence. Eventually, the imbalance undermines their physical health, relationships and commitment to the company, unleashing a plague of self-doubt.

To help your employees create balance, find out what they do for pleasure. I notice that successful people tend to have a physical outlet, and I encourage it. When a teammate has worked late nights for a board meeting or has given up weekends for a grand opening, I reward that person in his or her area of interest. For example, one employee loves The Bar Method, so we gifted her a months worth of workouts for free after a rough spell of work.

You can’t necessarily instill confidence in a workplace, but you can redesign your culture and leadership to instill confidence in people. Confidence is best in moderation – let’s not forget all leaders, explorers, financiers, athletes, etc. who have harmed themselves or others through grandiosity. However, if the female-male confidence gap is as wide as I suspect, we must push women well beyond their comfort zone.

About the Author
By Renae Scott
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

‘Change the World’ idealism is dying in Silicon Valley. We’ll miss it when it’s gone
CommentarySilicon Valley
‘Change the World’ idealism is dying in Silicon Valley. We’ll miss it when it’s gone
By Jonathan WeberMay 19, 2026
12 hours ago
reorgs
CommentaryRestructuring
We studied 6,000 executives and found the real reason 70% of transformations fail
By Julia Dhar, Kristy R. Ellmer and Philip JamesonMay 19, 2026
14 hours ago
joel
Commentarysaas
The SaaSpocalypse isn’t killing software. It’s exposing where software value really lives
By Joel HronMay 19, 2026
15 hours ago
altman
CommentarySam Altman
Musk vs. Altman: AI safety cannot be one man’s job
By Stavros GadinisMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
charlie
CommentarySoftware
Anaplan CEO: AI isn’t eating software. It’s sorting it
By Charlie GottdienerMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
shyam
CommentaryHealth
World Economic Forum: women’s health gets only 20% of R&D funding. We must seize this $1 trillion opportunity
By Shyam BishenMay 18, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense, and gold
Economy
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense, and gold
By Eva RoytburgMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
7 days ago
EXCLUSIVE: An hour in the Oval Office with the CEO-in-Chief, President Trump
Politics
EXCLUSIVE: An hour in the Oval Office with the CEO-in-Chief, President Trump
By Alyson ShontellMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 18, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 18, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, May 18, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, May 18, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
Employers are quietly pausing 401(k) matches again. The last time this happened was the 2008 recession and Covid
Personal Finance
Employers are quietly pausing 401(k) matches again. The last time this happened was the 2008 recession and Covid
By Courtney Vinopal and HR BrewMay 18, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.