The Confidence Code
The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know
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3.8 • 124 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Following the success of Lean In and Why Women Should Rule the World, the authors of the bestselling Womenomics provide an informative and practical guide to understanding the importance of confidence—and learning how to achieve it—for women of all ages and at all stages of their career.
Working women today are better educated and more well qualified than ever before. Yet men still predominate in the corporate world. In The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay argue that the key reason is confidence.
Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to "lean in."Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Broadcast journalists Kay and Shipman (Womenomics) address the self-confidence gap between women and men, consulting a range of experts to determine what female confidence looks like and how it can be achieved. Their sources include WNBA players, successful entrepreneurs, and senior U.S. military, all of whom admit to facing crises in confidence. They visit a neuropsychologist studying rhesus monkeys to explore nature vs. nurture theories on anxiety and the brain's neurotransmitters that enhance or inhibit confidence. The authors discuss obstacles to self-assurance women face like "negative habitual thought," internalized pressure to conform to feminine stereotypes, and a "hormonal tendency to avoid risk." Studies cited suggest women are more critical of their own scientific skills and spatial reasoning, and speak up less in a group setting. Kay and Shipman provide a great blueprint for raising daughters by discouraging perfectionism, noting that perfectionism smothers achievement and is the enemy of confidence. For readers themselves, the authors include techniques for eliminating "negative automatic thoughts" with self-compassion and recommend "quick fixes" like meditation, correct posture, and healthy habits. All of this research, as well as the authors' own recounting of experiences with doubt in their professional lives, effectively builds into a comprehensive set of ingredients for the confident woman.
Customer Reviews
Removing Self-Doubt
Authors Katty Kay and Claire Shipman tackle the question of what differentiates confidence levels between people, largely between men and women. It’s a loaded question but one worth exploring. Moreover, they offer a deep dive in how we can nurture confidence in the next generation without raising armipotent tyrants. The tips and tools for confidence building in younger people were insightful and run counterintuitive to what we may think are confidence building habits.
The gist of the books exploration comes down to how we maximize potential by removing self-doubt and pursuing mastery. Confidence is that spring board to action. To demonstrate this Kay & Shipman leverage exhaustive amounts of data from scientific studies, personality testing, and interviews to define and explore the roots of confidence. Though some of the confident person examples they hold up have proven to be the cringiest people in the public arena, their arguments still holds.
These role models in confidence all highlight a key point in their respective journeys; the cumulative effects of little wins. Katy & Shipman also demonstrate the effects nature and nurture have on our levels of confidence. An answer I won’t spoil for you here. In the end, the confidence code, as the authors define it, is simple. Think Less, Take Action, Be Authentic. That combined with the compound rewards of little steps reminded me a lot of Atomic Habits by James Clear. These two books pair well together.
Well written, informative & motivating
As a woman in a male dominated health profession, this book was the perfect mix of science/research, easy to read, and motivating. There are a ton of thought provoking sections I highlighted and look forward to re-reading and reflecting on those, again. I have already this book to a ton of women in my life!
I loved it.
I thought this book was amazing and I don’t understand the vitriol in some of these reviews. If you understand what causes a lack of confidence- like this book explains- you can fix it. Fixing the cause fixes the problem. It also gives long term and short term solutions in how to improve confidence. I liked the science part as well- it really explained the issues on a deeper level.