Do you feel inadequate even though you have done well professionally? Do you worry that you could be fired tomorrow, even if you constantly receive positive feedback? Do you work harder than most people in order to prove that you are not an impostor? If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, you are probably remarkably successful. That is, of course, if you believe Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a professor of business psychology at University College London who argues that less-confident people are more successful than their more-confident counterparts.
Writing for the Harvard Business Review Blog Network last month, Chamorro-Premuzic argues that people with lower self-confidence stand a greater chance of success for three reasons: 1) they pay attention to negative feedback and are self critical; 2) they work harder and prepare more; and 3) their lack of self-confidence reduces the chances that they will be perceived as arrogant by others.
I think Chamorro-Premuzic is onto something. I know a lot of insecure people who struggle daily to prove that they add value. And you know what? They do. Likewise, I work with a fair number of people who believe they are remarkable but are not impressive at all. Could self-confidence be a career killer?
There is nothing helpful about profound insecurity because it can lead people to act like victims or demonstrate annoying bravado in order to mask the lack of confidence that lurks within. Moderate insecurity, on the other hand, can be highly motivating. In my experience, people with less confidence feel a chronic need to demonstrate their worth and tend to work hard to prove that they are worthy of their current positions. They seek feedback and take it to heart, tend to be unusually responsive to inquiries and requests, are constantly looking for ways to do things better, and are willing to forge partnerships with others in order to get things done.
Chamorro-Premuzic’s piece brought to mind David Dunning, a psychology professor at Cornell University, and Justin Kruger, formerly of Cornell and now of New York University, who advanced the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals overestimate their ability. According to their research, incompetent people fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy, and people with true talent and insight assume they are nothing special. Think you are brilliant? It might be time to start worrying.
Do you have issues with confidence? If so, do you think your mind-set has benefited you professionally?
[Creative Commons-licensed photo by Flickr user Kheel Center, Cornell University]