Product Description

From the boardroom to the locker room to the living room—how winners become winners . . . and stay that way.

Is success simply a matter of money and talent? Or is there another reason why some people and organizations always land on their feet, while others, equally talented, stumble again and again?

There’s a fundamental principle at work—the vital but previously unexamined factor called confidence—that permits unexpected people to achieve high levels of performance through routines that activate talent. Confidence explains:

• Why the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team continues its winning ways even though recent teams lack the talent of their predecessors
• Why some companies are always positively perceived by employees, customers, Wall Street analysts, and the media while others are under a perpetual cloud
• How a company like Gillette or a team like the Chicago Cubs ends a losing streak and breaks out of a circle of doom
• The lessons a politician such as Nelson Mandela, who resisted the temptation to take revenge after being released from prison and assuming power, offers for leaders in both advanced democracies and trouble spots like the Middle East

From the simplest ball games to the most complicated business and political situations, the common element in winning is a basic truth about people: They rise to the occasion when leaders help them gain the confidence to do it.

Confidence is the new theory and practice of success, explaining why success and failure are not mere episodes but self-perpetuating trajectories. Rosabeth Moss Kanter shows why organizations of all types may be brimming with talent but not be winners, and provides people in leadership positions with a practical program for either maintaining a winning streak or turning around a downward spiral.
Confidence is based on an extraordinary investigation of success and failure in companies such as Continental Airlines, Seagate, and Verizon and sports teams such as the University of North Carolina women’s soccer team, New England Patriots, and Philadelphia Eagles, as well as schools, health care, and politics.

Packed with brilliant, practical ideas such as “powerlessness corrupts” and the “timidity of mediocrity,” Confidence provides fresh thinking for perpetuating winning streaks and ending losing streaks in all facets of life—from the factors that can make or break corporations and governments to the keys for successful relationships in the workplace or at home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #740554 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-31
• Released on: 2004-08-31
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 9.50" h x 1.36" w x 6.37" l, 1.49 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Drawing on more than 300 interviews with leaders in business, sports and politics, Kanter cogently explains the role confidence plays in the performance of institutions and individuals. Losing streaks are often created and then perpetuated when people lose confidence in their leaders and systems, while winning streaks are fueled by confident people who are secure in their own abilities and the ability of their leaders. Winning streaks are characterized by continuity and continued investment, Kanter argues, while losing streaks are marked by disruption and a lack of investment that typically give way to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Combining theory with practical advice, Kanter details how losing organizations can instill accountability, collaboration and initiative—Kanter's three pillars of confidence—to help start a turnaround. She illustrates her ideas with a number of real-world examples, among them how the new owner of the Philadelphia Eagles stopped the team's chronic losing ways and built a winning organization. Kanter, a professor at the Harvard Business School and author of numerous books (including Men and Women of the Corporation), delivers valuable insights on the importance of confidence to success and on how organizations can create practices that build that much needed asset.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Professional gamblers are very aware of the power of winning streaks and losing streaks-- and that elusive attribute that differentiates the two: confidence. Individuals, sports teams, companies, and entire nations create moods so contagious they create self-fulfilling patterns that can persist for decades. When Kanter spoke to leaders of streak-prone organizations, it was consistently the winners that wanted to share their experiences. (It seems no one wants to be slapped with the "loser" label.) But the Chicago Cubs consistently came up as the example of the organization with the most infamous losing streak, and although the players deny that the brand influences them, the constant reminder from media and fans keeps the jinx alive. She also looks at the factors necessary to create a turnaround, where strong leadership is essential, as recently exemplified at Gillette and the Philadelphia Eagles. It's been said that "confidence builds nations" and although this is primarily an examination of self-reinforcing cycles, Kanter shows how we as individuals and groups ultimately have a measure of control over our responses to circumstance. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
A Business Week Bestseller

“Confidence . . . makes the compelling argument that the people who succeed are the people who expect to succeed.” —Elle

“A successful book on leadership that illuminates the underlying principles applicable to teams and small businesses as well as schools, corporations, and countries.” —Washington Post

“Well-researched and engaging. . . . Kanter is a witty and entertaining writer.” —Miami Herald

“Finally, there’s a powerful book that digs out the truth about winners in every walk of life.” —David Gergen, editor at large, U.S. News and World Report, and presidential counselor  


From the Trade Paperback edition.