You’ve probably seen it happen.
A talented woman sits in a meeting, ready to share an idea she’s thought through carefully. Then, in a split second, she hesitates.
Do I really need to be the one to say this?
That moment isn’t about competence or courage. It’s about conditioning.
At People-Powered Solutions, we see this pattern every day. Brilliant, experienced women question their readiness, their tone, their timing — even as their results speak for themselves. They’re not short on confidence everywhere in life. They’re just carrying years of learned hesitation at work.
And the data shows why.
What the research says about confidence and leadership
The Women in the Workplace 2024 report by McKinsey and LeanIn.org found that women now hold 29% of C-suite roles, compared to 17% in 2015. That’s progress, but it’s fragile. The same report found that “women continue to face bias and microaggressions that call their competence and leadership into question,” particularly women of color, who hold just 7% of those roles (McKinsey & Company, 2024).
Globally, the story isn’t much brighter. The Women @ Work 2025 study by Deloitte reports that women make up only 35.4% of management positions worldwide and that nine in ten believe their manager would think less of them if they disclosed a mental health challenge (Deloitte, 2025). Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report found that women represent just 36% of senior leadership roles worldwide, and at this pace, economic parity is more than a century away (World Economic Forum, 2025).
So when women leaders question whether they belong, it’s not insecurity in isolation. It’s a pattern reinforced by what they’ve experienced in the system.
Confidence isn’t a feeling. It’s evidence.
Confidence is often mistaken for a mood — something you wake up with, or don’t.
But real confidence is built through proof.
In our coaching sessions, leaders grow more self-assured when they start collecting evidence of what they’ve already handled well. Not the flawless moments, but the ones that showed resilience: the hard conversation that stayed respectful, the meeting where they spoke up despite nerves, the feedback that stung but sparked growth.
Confidence isn’t something you find. It’s something you train your brain to recognize. Every time you notice a moment where you did something hard and still ended up okay, you’re building data your brain can trust. Over time, that data rewires self-doubt into self-trust.
Why women still hold back
We tend to blame imposter syndrome, but that oversimplifies it. Confidence gaps aren’t personal flaws. They’re cultural habits shaped by unequal systems.
McKinsey’s 2024 data shows that for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women move up — a number that’s barely changed in six years. When early leadership experiences involve more scrutiny and fewer chances, many women learn to equate hesitation with safety.
By the time they reach senior roles, that hesitation can feel like humility, but it’s often conditioning. The brain says, I’ll speak when I’m sure, even when sure never comes.
Belonging isn’t something you wait to be handed. It’s something you build through your own proof.
What confidence looks like at work
Confidence doesn’t always feel confident. Sometimes it looks like:
- Speaking even when your voice shakes.
- Taking credit without apologizing.
- Asking for feedback before you feel ready.
These moments may seem small, but they’re the ones that re-train your brain to recognize capability instead of risk.
An academic review published in 2024 found that women who participated in coaching and peer programs significantly increased their confidence, expanded their networks, and sustained their growth over time (International Journal of Management Reviews, 2024). We see the same transformation in our programs: the moment a leader starts collecting her own evidence, she begins leading differently — more grounded, more authentic, and far less apologetic.
How to Start Building Real Confidence
Confidence isn’t built overnight, and it doesn’t grow from compliments or performance reviews. It grows from practice — small, intentional steps that teach your brain to recognize your own capability.
Here are three ways to start:
1. Collect your own data
Confidence grows from evidence, not affirmation. Each week, jot down one thing you handled well, one thing you did differently than before, and one thing that scared you but worked out anyway. Over time, you’ll train your brain to see progress as proof.
2. Separate confidence from certainty
Confidence doesn’t mean knowing everything. It means trusting that you can handle what comes next. You don’t have to wait until every detail is perfect before taking action. You just need to believe you can figure it out.
3. Ask yourself better questions
When doubt shows up, pause and reframe it. Instead of asking “Am I ready?” try “What evidence do I already have that I can do this?”
Instead of “What if I fail?” ask “What if this goes right?”
These small shifts turn hesitation into practice — and practice builds trust.
The more you practice these moments of trust, the easier they become. Confidence doesn’t demand certainty; it asks for courage and memory — the courage to act, and the memory to recall that you’ve done it before.
Try this: your weekly evidence audit
Once you’ve started practicing these small shifts, here’s one weekly habit that ties them together. Every Friday, spend five minutes asking yourself three questions:
- What did I handle well this week?
- What did I do differently or better than last time?
- When did I take action, even though I was nervous, and it still worked out?
You’re not making a gratitude list. You’re gathering proof.
This practice teaches your brain to track progress, not perfection.
Over time, the question shifts from Am I ready? to What evidence do I already have that I can do this?
A reflection for leaders
Ask yourself:
- What would change if you trusted your own evidence as much as you trust others’?
- How might your team’s confidence grow if they saw you practicing that kind of trust?
At the end of the day, leadership isn’t about who feels confident. Real leadership isn’t about who feels confident. It’s about who keeps showing up anyway — grounded, thoughtful, and willing to learn
A supported next step
If this message resonates, it’s the kind of work we explore in our Leadership, Powered by Women program, a community where women learn to lead with both self-trust and strategy.
Because confidence isn’t something you wait to feel. It’s something you practice until you believe it.
