Confidence is About Small Successes

When Christopher S. Penn and I launched PodCamp, neither of us knew how to do what we did. We just figured it out. A lot of sweat and effort went into creating a conference, even an unconference. But we did it. And that success carried both of us to new levels. It made us feel capable of doing more than what we might have felt before. It gave me the belief that I could figure out pretty much anything, given enough time.

If you’re interested in doing/being/trying something new, can you find ways to make a project, execute the project, and appreciate the small success that comes from it?

Confidence is About Risk

We face moments in our lives all the time when risk is the gating factor. Do we dive off the bridge like our friends, or just stay put? Do we seek out that mortgage we can’t exactly cover? Should you quit your job, even though you’re not sure where the next check will come from?

Confidence is about taking a risk and seeing it pay off, or taking a risk, failing, and moving on from the failure.

Want a crash course in risk? Go to a skate park. Watch skateboarders try different things. They risk their safety for increasingly difficult tricks, often in front of a mixed bag crowd of supporters and detractors. It’s a lot like a microcosm of the risks you might take in life.

Another note about risk: most times, people are a bit more comfortable taking risks they know others have taken and accomplished. It’s those “jumping when no one has ever done it” risks that raise the bar. The thing is, that’s where the biggest reward comes from.

Confidence is About Support

If you haven’t built your own social network (I don’t mean software; I mean people), you don’t have the kind of support in place that I’m talking about. Most people only exist within the social networks that are given to them: coworkers, neighbors, church members. That’s not what I’m talking about.

By building a small, powerful network of your own, one that isn’t comprised of people who passively relate to you in some form, you’ll find the kind of support you want.

I count people like Becky McCray, Jon Swanson, Rob Hatch, , and Britt Raybould amongst the list of people in my small powerful network. Becky’s a small business expert from Oklahoma. Jon’s a pastor in Indiana. Rob’s a junior high school friend from Maine. Whitney came to the first PodCamp (and is now the mother of all PodCamps), Britt’s a business communications pro from Idaho. I have others, too. But do you see the point? These people aren’t in my obvious circle. They’re not in my geography. And they all support me more than I can say.

Confidence is About Eliminating Excuses

I can’t say this enough: language matters. Count the number of times you use negative sentences in a day. “We don’t have this. She’s not doing it the way we want. I can’t do that because they’re not letting me.”

I worked long and hard at turning all my language around to the positive. I’d say, “It would be great to find a way to get this. I’m hoping we can help her execute more the way we’re thinking. I’m working on removing some roadblocks.”

If you talk yourself out of things, it will always work.

Confidence Is About Setting Goals and Making Commitments

It’s pretty hard to be successful if you don’t decide what makes you a success. How do you know if you’re winning or failing if you don’t have a sense of what that means? We tend to think of “happiness” as a goal, but that’s like saying “clouds” are a goal. Happiness is an emotional state that passes through us, not something we can really hold on to from day to day. And it’s also not exactly accurate to what you’re saying.

• Does happiness mean that your bills are paid? Then that’s a financial goal.
• Does happiness mean that your family is happy? Then that’s a relationship goal.
• Does happiness mean loving your job? Then that’s a career goal.

And if you don’t put some kind of solid words on paper that show both the larger goals – “work for myself by age 40″ – and the goals that will get you there – “attend more BarCamps and other entrepreneur-focused events” – you will have a much harder time reaching those goals.

Confidence Is About Believing In Yourself First

This isn’t always easy. We all have rough days. If you don’t learn how to build your own self-esteem, it’s going to be much harder to build up your successes. This is the book on Self-Esteem that did the most good for me. I moved from Covey’s 7 Habits book on to this, and after I’d done what this book recommended, my life changed in all the ways you now observe.

It’s not about other people. It’s about you. Believe.

What About You?

Any questions? Any thoughts? Any other tidbits for folks as to how you achieved confidence? Let’s talk about it.

Because America (and a big chunk of the world at large) is wondering very intently what comes next for GM, and I was being invited in for some of the story.

The OnStar Story

I had a great visit to the OnStar group’s floor. I met with Twitter friend Kameya Shows and her boss, Steve Schwinke, who showed me what went on behind the famous blue button (OnStar is an onboard assistance platform inside of most -all?- GM vehicles that allows you to call a human with the press of a button for roadside assistance, directions, even poison control!). The system was amazing. They have around 500 patents for the platform, and Steve and I geeked out a few times about wireless technology (my background) and about the possibilities for the future of the platform.

They are saving lives with that platform. There are some great stories (Kameya probably could comment and leave links to them) from what OnStar has done to help people. They even have a remote management capability that helps law enforcement throttle down your car remotely should your car have been stolen and become part of a high speed chase. They let me test that out directly. It’s unbelievable.

The scenario would be like this: someone steals your car. You report it. The police are in pursuit of your car (tracking it because yes, OnStar does that too). They get in position to apprehend the alleged thieves. They tell the OnStar agent (I forget the much better name they call their phone staff), and the OnStar person clicks something that throttles down the car remotely. The car drops all ability to accelerate. Braking and steering still work, but no more gas pedal. Amazing.

Confidence.

Meeting the CEO of General Motors

This man isn’t the CEO of GM, but he’s how the story starts. Christopher Barger is clearly doing something right inside GM. He put a call in to Steve Harris, VP of Global Communications, and asked Steve to book some time with Fritz Henderson, acting CEO. Steve didn’t hesitate, and he booked some time for me to come and speak to Fritz (and I swear, it feels like you should be on a first name basis with him the moment you meet him). And so, I found myself in the office of a man with one of the toughest jobs and under the most scrutiny for his organization’s role in the American economy right now.

And I was going to talk to him about social media?

Want to talk about confidence? I really had to think about how to use my time. You don’t get on a major CEO’s schedule every day. I wanted to convey that these tools I feel so passionately about were important to the success of GM and several other large organizations. I wanted to kick Fritz’s tires on his commitment to social media. I wanted to thank him for making the cars I drive.

First off, know this: Fritz Henderson has an incredible tough job, but his track record says he’s up to it. He knows it’s a matter of doing big actions and not just towing a line. He knows this won’t be easy. I am not qualified to judge them man, but I know this: he looked confident.

Kick the tires of Fritz Henderson and social media? He knows plenty about it. He knows that he wants to actively listen and participate in conversations online. He knows that his company’s efforts over the last few years in the social space are great starts to a larger strategy. He has guys like Christopher Barger out there taking on these kinds of projects, and he is excited (confident!) about the opportunity that lies in better relationships with consumers and other stakeholders.

I’m grateful for our conversation and look forward to the next talk.

In my next post, a bit more about the cars.

Twitter is a strange thing. The other day, I asked a question: “If I think the Cadillac CTS is hot, does that make me an old man?” Within a few minutes, I had over a hundred responses to the question (98% said no). Most people told me they thought the car was sexy, or that they owned one themselves.

Thing is, I’d never really seen one before. From this interaction sprang a conversation with General Motors’ own Christopher Barger, director of social media, and from that came the fortune to have a visit to GM’s headquarters in Detroit, Michigan.

Oh, and on the way, I got to drive a 2010 Chevy Camaro, a 2009 Cadillac Escalade (as part of a cool OnStar demonstration), and a Cadillac CTS and the Cadillac CTS-V (which has a Corvette engine under the hood). Did I mention I got the chance to talk with GM’s new CEO, Fritz Henderson, and also their head of communications, the legendary Steve Harris? Did I mention that I got to have lunch with GM’s entire social media team? (Okay, not all of them. Natalie wasn’t there.)

First, A Quick Piece of Background

At South By Southwest, I was speaking with Christopher Barger when I realized something: except for the very first car my parents gave me (a Dodge Aspen), every car I owned has been in the GM family: (a Citation, a Caprice Classic, a Geo Tracker, and 5 Saturns). I am a passionate Saturn owner (shout out to Lesley on Saturn’s social media team), and when I heard that GM was considering Saturn as one of the brands they may park, I expressed concern about how I’d figure out what to buy next time.

Flash forward a few weeks later, and I’m sitting at a street light and a Cadillac CTS pulls up alongside me, and I think it’s very sexy. This confuses me. Isn’t Cadillac the old man car? Turns out it’s not. I knew that Escalade was a cool vehicle, but I didn’t want a big SUV. And that’s how I ended up visiting GM’s headquarters: because of a few conversations and a tweet about a car.

The 2010 Camaro is HOT!

I came to GM to talk about social media and to try out a Cadillac, but Adam Denison, a social media guy on Chevy’s Camaro and Corvette accounts (eat your heart out) was able to wrangle me some time behind the wheel of a Camaro. Yeah, like I’m going to say no to that. Now, I’m not a gear-head. I know there were lots of horses under the hood. I also know that the thing gets 27MPG.

The thing was hot. People stared at it. I heard a story that cops were pulling the car over repeatedly just to check it out. And it’s going to retail for somewhere in the mid- to high- $20,000 range.

Some critics have come out and asked why GM is putting out a “muscle” car in these economic times. Some have asked what this has to do with getting the company back on more solid ground financially, as it’s a somewhat niche car, and not likely to move the masses.

Answer: confidence.

This car is confident. Not arrogant. Confident. It is beautiful. It makes you stare at it. It is a delicious piece of design work. I’d read some so-so reviews of the car in USA Today, and so my expectations weren’t very high, but pow! This car is the kind of car people will talk about. And that kind of confidence is useful.

To me, the story GM is about to tell is about confidence in more than one direction. And that’s what we’ll get into with tomorrow’s piece.